Just a Little Rough Around the Edges
by CSKazaam
Summary: Zack and Angeal expect to move through some rough spots as they ease into their new student/mentor roles. But neither expected the turn this mission would take after coming face to face with one of the most dangerous predators of them all - a dragon.
1. Reckless

**Author's Notes:** This was written for Katrina (icedark-elf) as part of the 2011 DOINK! Final Fantasy Exchange. :) The request was for a Crisis Core fic, with Angeal and Zack, being student and mentor on a mission. It ended up being written in multiple parts, because I absolutely fail at keeping anything short. XD The first part is done, so I present it as the first part of Katrina's gift! The other parts are being written at this minute, and I will upload them as new chapters as soon as they are finished!

Zack's age given here is based upon my own calculations of when he advanced through the ranks, and is as close to canon as I can figure. I have expanded a bit upon the characteristics of monsters from the game in this chapter, because I am a nerd, and because Angeal likes to lecture. For my own silly reasons, I have decided that the names of the birds here are both singular and plural (no 's' added), but all other monsters names here become plural by adding 's'. XD

In addition to the prompt from Katrina, this fic was also inspired by the prompts "Letting go ; Watching the horizon" from 30_losses on LiveJournal, and "The wrong words" from 30_hugs, also on LJ.

First time writing Angeal! Hope you all enjoy. :)

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><p><strong>Just a Little Rough Around the Edges<strong>

**By**

**Kazaam**

_For Katrina / icedark-elf  
><em>_A DOINK! Final Fantasy Exchange 2011 fic, in multiple parts_

* * *

><p><strong>Part I: Reckless<strong>

Angeal Hewley wasn't entirely sure what originally drew him to the hyperactive boy who had just made Third Class - his confident innocence, energetic cheerfulness, lofty dreams, or just the fact that he was another country boy trying to find his place in the world. When he was happy, he wanted everyone to be happy. And when he was sad, well … it seemed all of ShinRa knew it. Not that they knew who Zack Fair was, of course – just another new face at the bottom of the totem pole – but the sky seemed to darken a little, and the sun seemed to dim, and the weight of the organization grew just a bit more oppressive. It was almost unnoticeable.

But Angeal knew.

So, when Angeal finally announced to the barely-qualified-as-a-Third-Class SOLDIER that he'd chosen _him_ as his student in SOLDIER's mentoring program – and promptly received an armful of ecstatic teenager – he realized that he'd finally found something he'd been missing for a long time. He still couldn't quite put a finger on what exactly it was … but it was there.

And then training began, and he discovered that Zack wasn't the only one who had to re-learn the definition of patience.

* * *

><p>"Patience, Zack."<p>

"But Angeal! They're _right there_. We're so close!"

"Patience."

Zack Fair sat crouched in the tall grass with his mentor, peering out through the stalks at a small flock of replicon. The large, predatory birds were slowly making their way through the grass, heads bobbing and wing-claws slightly outstretched, eagerly fingering the air, on a hunt of their own. He watched as one cocked its head toward the ground, eyeing the surface. It had probably caught the sound of something moving in an underground burrow, perhaps one of the mus. Zack felt sorry for the small, furry critter, as the replicon would likely scratch it out when it got too close to the surface, and spear it with its long, deadly beak.

"_Angeal_ …"

The SOLDIER First didn't reply, leaving Zack fighting not to bounce in impatience. He'd finally taken Zack out on his first _real_ SOLDIER field training – a month-long excursion out into the wilds of the Eastern Continent that was a combination of survival training, combat training, and battle tactics, as well as a continuation of Zack's lessons in swordmanship. It was meant to for Angeal to observe what Zack had learned so far in his first few months as a Third, but also to give the boy a taste of reality that no virtual simulation could provide.

Case in point: monster hunting. As he was trying to demonstrate to his energetic student, killing off monsters wasn't always a simple matter of running around until you stumbled into a group of them waiting to attack head-on. You had to find them first, and it was wise to pick and choose your battles carefully so that you would not be caught in a dangerous position by other monsters in the area, and so you could locate the most advantageous position from which to attack. The simulations were also notorious for overlooking natural monster behavior, which made facing the real thing quite a different challenge – or a perplexing surprise when the creature you were supposed to take out simply ran away!

It was three days into their excursion, and Zack seemed to be doing reasonably well … for someone with almost zero focus. He enthusiastically threw himself into their morning sword routine, and, even if he was still a bit awkward with the weapon, he certainly poured his whole heart into it. The main difficulties only arose when Angeal attempted to elaborate on the finer points of … well, anything that didn't involve physically doing something, especially if it was something Zack thought he already had a good handle on. He would latch onto new concepts with the eagerness of a puppy getting a new toy, only to be distracted a moment later when it was suddenly old and uninteresting. And if he had already "learned" something from previous training and classes, it was practically impossible to get him to pay attention when Angeal attempted to expand upon the topic … unless he threw the boy a treat in the form of something new and different.

_Come to think of it, it's not much different from teaching a puppy to sit_, he mused, wryly. _Once he thinks he has it, he wanders off to do his own thing, and completely misses the point._

Angeal patiently watched his new "Puppy," idly wondering how long he would be able to sit still. Remarkably, the young SOLDIER had kept his eyes glued to the birds, though his fidgeting was steadily growing worse. It was tempting to give him a break and give him the signal to attack – replicon were among the least dangerous of the giant birds and Zack would probably be fine, though they could pose a challenge to the inexperienced. But Angeal was firm in his belief that Zack needed to be able to wait and identify the most ideal moment to strike. Not every battle was won by rushing headlong into it, even for SOLDIERs.

Something beyond their hearing caused the birds to suddenly halt and raise their heads, gazing away across the plains. Apparently, it was all Zack needed to decide to move. He promptly jumped up and bounded forward into the midst of the flock with a yell.

"And there he goes …" Angeal sighed.

Already spring-loaded to act, the replicon pivoted to face the new threat, seamlessly prancing around to surround him. Clearly, they hadn't been caught as off-guard as Zack hoped they would be. He raised his sword, grinning.

"Come and get it!" And without even waiting for that to happen, he lunged forward, brandishing his weapon.

The battle took a little longer than it could have, while Angeal stood back, ready to step in if need be. He took action only to block what would have been a very nasty kick to Zack's back, but let his student finish what he started. He survived with only minor scratches.

"Very good." Angeal nodded in approval, and Zack beamed, even as he panted for breath. "Though your combat skills need work, I didn't see anything too serious to critique you on. Aside from two points. The first is that you neglected to use your materia."

Zack blinked, and his eyes widened. "Materia? Oh, you're totally right! I completely forgot I had it." Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a smooth, green orb. It had been given to him by Angeal a few months ago, when the First became his mentor. Angeal frowned slightly at seeing that it had not even been equipped. "Barrier, right?" Zack had yet to become proficient at identifying materia by touch, so he impulsively slotted and activated the stone on the spot. A pale, semi-transparent, curved surface materialized between him and Angeal.

The First sighed. "Yes, Zack." Taking his own sword, he casually waved it through the Barrier with what seemed like little effort, causing the magic to fail and dissolve around them in a shower of faint sparks. Zack pouted. "You need practice," Angeal added, before sweeping off in the direction they were headed. "Incidentally, you should never activate an unknown materia toward another person."

Zack frowned, considering this point for a moment. It had only been a Barrier, after all. He knew better than to activate something dangerous! Upon glancing up and seeing his mentor's retreating back, Zack hurried to catch up, brushing through the waist-high prairie grass.

"… So, uh … you said there were two points. … What was the second one?"

Angeal glanced down at him from the corner of his eye, but didn't pause. "The second one … is that you attacked too soon. You didn't wait for my signal."

"… But I attacked right when the replicon were distracted! It was the perfect moment!"

"No, it wasn't." Angeal fell silent for a moment, letting the _swish_ of the grass around their legs fill the space between them. "… The replicon weren't distracted. Well, not in the way that you meant for them to be. They may not have been looking in your direction, but that does not mean they were unprepared for a fight. You saw it in their body language – they were tense, alert, ready to spring into action. It didn't matter that the action didn't come from the direction they were looking.

"To truly catch them unawares, they need to become relaxed, complacent. You need to catch them when they are not as alert as they could be, when they have a different mindset. This is true distraction."

"… Oh …" Zack pondered this. "So, like … when they're … sleeping?" he ventured.

"Yes … or eating. Or sunning. Or even hunting, because that is also a different mindset from one looking for predators."

Zack nodded slowly. "Huh. So you were waiting until they found something to eat."

"Or for whatever other opportunity might present itself."

"… But I wanted to get them before they found the mu!"

His mentor chuckled. "It's the way of life, Zack."

"But mus are cute!"

"And replicons aren't?"

"Eh." Zack made a face. "Not really."

Angeal shook his head. "Cuteness is not a factor in whether something deserves to live or die. Nor whether it is dangerous. Mus can be quite the nuisance, especially in groups. They've been known to sink vehicles into the ground, are notorious for destroying crops. Many farmers encourage small populations of replicon or chocobos to keep them in check."

Zack's eyes widened. "Chocobos eat mus? I thought they weren't carnivorous!"

"They aren't." Angeal smirked. "But they can be trained to keep nuisances away."

Zack fell silent for a while, as he thought. They continued onward, heading for the foothills in the distance. A hazy line of mountains scraped the sky beyond them, late summer heat turning them liquid and insubstantial.

They were currently some distance west of the Chocobo Farm, and southeast of Midgar, more than half a continent away. Angeal planned to guide them toward the mountains, then turn north and follow the ridgeline either all the way to the western coast and Junon, or to break off, skirting the Wastelands, and head toward Kalm, depending on how the training went. Though he did have a general outline of what he wanted to teach Zack, it was still very much a matter of playing things by ear, adjusting on the go to what he felt Zack was ready for. He'd only really known the boy a short while, and he was proving to be very proficient in some things … while somewhat less so in others.

There was a short yelp behind him, and he turned, only to find Zack disappearing into the grass. The boy popped upward a bare moment later.

"Mu hole! I'm okay, no worries!"

Angeal sighed. "Focus, Zack." This was going to be a long few weeks.

* * *

><p>"Behind you, Zack, look alive!"<p>

Zack whirled on cue, letting his sword swing out to bisect the grashtrike as the insect-like creature leapt at him. He punted another with his boot, then blasted a third with the Fire materia Angeal had given him that morning. It missed. The creature sprung upward to latch onto his sweater. Zack had a good view of the bluish creature's ugly head, with its faced red eyes, waving antennae, and pointed nose, before he shouted and swatted it away, stumbling backward. It waved its sickle-like claws and made to jump again. He quickly stabbed it, then lunged for another about to go after Angeal's unprotected back.

"Your sword is not your only weapon, nor should it be thought of as your primary weapon. In your arsenal, you also have materia, items you may carry with you, and all your surroundings. Make use of them." Angeal stood, arms crossed, and quite unmoved by the flurry of activity going on around him. Zack darted back and forth, working at a frantic pace to take out the nest of giant insects Angeal had found. The man continued his lecture. "Your primary weapon – your most important tool, in all cases – is _you_. Your body, your mind, your spirit. _You_ wield the sword, _you_ power and control the materia, _you_ move to bring all things acting together in harmony – one effective, cohesive unit, directed toward your goal." Zack stomped on yet another grashtrike. "Your body is a weapon as much as anything else you may use. Don't forget about it. Don't lock yourself into a mindset of only using your sword. Be flexible. Keep your mind active, fluid. Keep thinking, two, three, four steps ahead. In this way, you will never run out of options, even if you have no steel at your disposal."

Zack pivoted, slashing upward and sending one of the creatures into the air, as Angeal's voice continued in the background. _Use the sword … use materia … use your body …_ Zack repeated the instructions in his head, mind buzzing. His breath came hard and fast, as he struggled to not only keep the creatures off of him, but also keep them from hurting Angeal, who seemed completely oblivious to how close they were getting. _He's crazy! Didn't he see the one that almost took off his ear? He can't possibly think I can keep them all at bay myself!_

His boots pounded across the ground, the action, and the misplaced Fire, beating a decently-sized clearing into the surrounding grass, with Angeal at the center. _How many of these dang things are there? _There seemed to be no end to them.

Suddenly, one of the grashtrikes latched onto his boot as he was about to take another step, causing him to stumble and take a full dive into the earth. Four more mobbed him, the impacts beating him into the dirt.

Angeal sighed, seeing his student take the fall. Calmly stepping forward, he reached back, effortlessly lifting the Buster Sword from its place on his back. Then he swung it, blunt side forward, and batted the swarming creatures off the young SOLDIER and clear out of the field.

It was over.

Zack groaned, and propped himself up. "I almost had 'em! Why'd you hafta step in?"

Angeal grunted. "Consider it an old man's whim." He reached down, taking hold of Zack's hand, and helped him up. The boy squeaked as his feet almost left the ground. Angeal set a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"Hmph." Zack clearly looked put out, both at the careless show of Angeal's own strength, and at having to be "rescued." He frowned, kicked at the ground, chest still heaving from the exercise. Angeal visually checked him for injuries, noted a few long scratches through the torn fabric across his back, and activated the lowest level of his Restore. A soothing coolness washed over the boy; he couldn't help but relax into it.

The First stepped back and regarded him. "You did well. Don't think otherwise. You kept going far longer than many other Thirds would have."

Zack shrugged, the lingering coolness of the Restore fading and leaving him rather sullen about his performance. It didn't matter much if he still couldn't finish the job. "I messed up. That's the only reason why you had to save me, just admit it."

Angeal chuckled. "Zack, you hardly 'messed up.' You simply took a misstep. That's all."

He scowled. "Yeah, but missteps get people killed! You've said that before!"

"This is _training_, Zack." Angeal shook his head. "You're allowed to make mistakes. I promise." He examined the boy's face, oddly disturbed to see the disappointment there, though he wasn't sure why. He shook it off. "Cheer up." On impulse, he patted the boy's head. "Mistakes are how you learn."

"_Hey_," Zack growled and swatted the hand away, though the sparkle had come back to his eyes as he watched his mentor saunter off. He bounced forward to catch up.

They trekked up and along the curve of a hill, the late afternoon sun beating down upon them. Zack rolled his shoulders against the weight of the sword on his back, so soon after the exertion of the fight against the grashtrikes, and wiped his brow. Off in the distance, a pack of guard fangs busily antagonized a small group of elfadunk.

Abruptly, Angeal spoke up.

"Do you know the difference between a replicon and a pachyornis? Or between a pachyornis and a titanis?"

A little taken aback at the question, Zack considered it for a few seconds. "Umm … the color?" He knew they were all giant birds of the same kind, but other than that … "Or the size, maybe?"

Angeal chuckled. "Could you tell them apart? Do you know which you should be safe battling, and which you should avoid?"

The long stretch of silence as Zack fought to come up with a suitable answer told Angeal all he needed to know.

"Replicon, pachyornis, and titanis all belong to the same category of bird, it's true – large, flightless, predatory, and aggressive, to differing degrees. They look very similar, but it is possible to tell them apart – they differ somewhat in color, but mostly in build … this is because they are also very different in terms of strength and speed, making some of them much more dangerous than others. Can you tell me which ones you should avoid?"

Again, Zack hesitated, before shrugging and offering a boastful grin. "I'm not afraid to handle any of 'em! I'll take 'em all on. Besides, I've got my materia to back me up!" He pumped his fist, displaying the arm to which his bracer and Barrier materia were attached.

Angeal grunted, though he was amused. "Wrong answer."

"But, Angeal, they can't be that bad, right? Sure, I can see things maybe gettin' dicey, but a SOLDIER can handle anything!"

"You've got a lot to learn, Zack. Even for a SOLDIER, there are a lot of creatures out there that it is wise to think twice before engaging." Angeal gazed out over the plains. "For example …" He pointed toward the action taking place in the distance; Zack followed his arm. "See those guard fangs? If you look a little to the right – not there, Zack, over _there_ – you'll see the crests of a small flock of titanis through the grass. They're circling the guard fangs – they haven't been noticed yet – and, very shortly, they're going to rush in and attack."

Zack scanned the area. "Uh … wait … okay, yeah, I see 'em!"

"Titanis are very territorial. They don't like other creatures hunting in their territory, even if it is for different game than the birds normally go after. In a moment, the guard fangs are going to get a nasty surprise." Even as they watched, the large birds turned as one, angling in like an arrow, accelerating, and spearing through the heart of the guard fang pack. The canines scattered in surprise. Their indignant barks could be heard on the wind. Angeal continued, "Titanis are among the most powerful of the predatory birds that are found on Gaia. They are so far above the level of the ordinary replicon that other birds – and most other creatures – in the area give them a wide berth. They know who's in charge." He turned to face his student. "Likewise, SOLDIERs must know which monsters to engage, and which to avoid, if possible. You think handling that flock of replicon yesterday on your own was tricky? At your level, one titanis would lay you out flat before you could snap your fingers."

Zack's brow furrowed, not sure he believed Angeal's assessment. "But I can just use my materia!"

Angeal chuckled. "The Fire you failed to hit anything with just now? Or the Barrier that disintegrates if I blow on it?" Zack scowled in response. "Materia have levels, too, Zack, and neither of you are currently strong enough to take down just any monster you come across. The point is that you must learn to understand your limits, as well as be able to correctly identify the creatures you encounter."

They progressed along the hillside, Angeal continuing his lecture. Zack kicked a rock along as he followed, letting Angeal's words drone on in the background. His mentor was going on to describe the differences between the predatory birds in the grasslands and in other regions of the world, and then began listing the characteristics of the spriggan-class of monsters – the bipedal, fat, toad-like creatures crowned with spikes.

_Replicon, epiornis, coast runners … pachyornis, dinornis, titanis, diatryma … spriggans, hedgehog pies, red caps, boundfats, gremlins, imps, lesser demons …_

Zack's mind began to wander, and he found himself wondering who in the world would name something a "hedgehog pie" or a "boundfat," though "boundfat" was pretty descriptive, as far as Zack was concerned. And were lesser demons really demons? And if they were, were they related in any way to the flying, gargoyle-like demons found in caves? They didn't really look anything alike, but Zack supposed it was possible they could have evolved from the same critter at some point, or maybe they'd been so mutated with Mako that they were completely different now. But could demons even evolve or mutate in the first place? If so …

As Angeal continued on to describe the differences in grashtrikes, Zack spied something a short way down the hill from them. Within a good-sized patch of shortened grass were clusters of long, purple-gray spines – the telltale sign of spriggans hunkered down for a snooze. Speak of the devil … He grinned. Time for some more action!

"Heads up, Angeal! Time to give this materia another whirl!" He bounded off, already charging up his Fire.

Angeal paused mid-lecture, glancing back to see his student run off. Sharp eyes landed on the creatures in the grass. He frowned. They didn't wear the reddish skin of spriggans … no, they were the bright yellow of _gremlins_, a monster higher in level than even a titanis. Not only that, but they absorbed the energy from Fire – Zack's attacks would just make them more powerful. Angeal sighed and rubbed his forehead, as he felt a headache start to develop. "Zack … didn't you hear anything I just told you?" he queried of the air.

Drawing his sword, he trotted down the hill, supposing he'd better rescue his errant pup.

* * *

><p>It was a week into their excursion when everything went south. Angeal had received a call dealing with a recent development regarding one of the chocobo farmers in the nearby foothills. Apparently, the chocobos were being terrorized by some kind of creature, as yet unidentified. Angeal and his student were to head to the area, track down whatever it was, identify it, and kill it, if necessary.<p>

Their search had brought them through the foothills and into the low mountains, which was just as well, since it fit within Angeal's original plan.

What they found did not.

"Zack, _get down_!"

Angeal firmly grabbed his student around the waist, hauling the boy down with him, then braced his Buster Sword and ducked behind, folding around Zack as a line of searing fire speared toward them and impacted the steel. It curled around the metal, heating it and turning the edges a dull crimson, smoked against the hasty Wall he'd thrown up.

Damn it. It was a _dragon_.

A litany of curses went through his mind.

As soon as the fire attack let up, Angeal, ignoring the way he could feel Zack's heart thumping through the fabric between them, and the wide-eyed gaze the boy sent his way, gave his student a shove.

"_Run_, Zack." There was no way the young SOLDIER, barely a Third, could stand up against a dragon.

Zack, having stumbled away at the shove, caught his balance, and spun to face his mentor. "_What?_ No! Angeal …"

"I am not arguing with you," he growled, firmly.

"I'm not going!"

Suddenly furious, Angeal whirled on his student. "You will leave now, or, so help me, I will strip you of your rank and remove you from the mentor program _myself_!"

There was a brief second where Zack stared at his mentor in stunned disbelief at the unexpected outburst, feeling as if he'd just been punched in the gut. Then, more afraid of him at that moment than the dragon, he turned and ran, dodging through the trees.

Angeal ignored the memory of Zack's hurt expression and faced the dragon just as it darted toward him, snapping jaws larger than his torso. He leapt out of the way, charging up a powerful Thundaga spell and letting it go. Crackling energy lanced toward the monster, hitting it dead on and sparking along its black scales. The dragon shook its head as if the deadly magic had simply tickled, then it narrowed bright, Mako-green eyes and launched another fire attack.

_The Lightning had no effect?_ Angeal swore. He should have realized it sooner – by the color of its scales, the beast was a Dark Dragon – the only type immune to electric attacks!

_ And the only dragon capable of casting Ultima … Gaia, let this be a young dragon!_

Tucking and rolling out of the line of fire, and holding his breath so as not to inhale the noxious fumes of the dragon's breath, he came to his feet near the dragon's hindquarters and swung, slicing deep into the thick muscle of the leg. There was an earsplitting, bellowing shriek, and before Angeal could adjust his sword and drive it between the creature's ribs, the dragon twisted back on him, surprisingly catlike, and he was forced to contend with dagger-like claws.

Resolute, Angeal blocked the attack and pressed forward with the blade. Suddenly inside the dragon's guard, he shifted his grip to whip out the thin, SOLDIER-issue sword, only to spear it deep into the base of the dragon's neck. Jolting back, the dragon gave a strangled scream and thrashed, clumsy talons trying to remove the weapon. Not intending to let himself get crushed by the uncontrolled movements, Angeal darted away with a parting cut to a flailing claw.

_That should keep its breath weapon in check._

The dragon raised its head toward the sky, choking, and opened its maw wide in an attempt to produce flame. But it failed, the sword having pierced its fire organ. Black blood trickled from the corner of its mouth as the muscles in its neck constricted painfully. Finally, as Angeal chose that moment to dash forward with the intent to finish it off, it made a rasping sound and cocked its head to the side, a loud, buzzing _hum_ suddenly coming from its mouth.

… What on Gaia …?

A blinding beam of light shot skyward from the beast's jaws, and the dragon arched its back, then swung its head down toward Angeal. The brilliant ray cut through the surrounding trees, sending heavy trunks crashing to the forest floor, and sought a bead on the SOLDIER.

_ A Laser attack!_

Too late to dodge, Angeal renewed his Wall, trusting in the magic to take the brunt of the attack. But, as strong as it was, the laser punched through it in a moment, striking the guard of the Buster. It overheated; Angeal thrust it away, throwing himself in the opposite direction, just as the laser dimmed and faded. Not about to allow the dragon the chance to recharge, he sprinted for it, activating his mastered Ice materia.

With its target advancing, the dragon roared and charged to meet him, claws digging into the earth and flinging sod. Bowing its head to expose its horns, it caught Angeal in the midsection, just as the materia came to life. As icy spears plunged into the dragon's sides, it continued its reckless stampede and drove both of them off level ground to tumble down the steep slope of the forested hill. Trees crashed around them.

The only thing left at the battleground was the abandoned blade of the Buster Sword, and a light layer of frost and floating ice crystals.

* * *

><p>Zack was horrified. Stubborn as he was, he hadn't gone far when ordered away, only putting just enough foliage between him and the battle so that he could still catch glimpses of what was going on. The thunderous crashing of the two down the slope had jarred him into action.<p>

"Angeal!"

Bushes and twigs snagged at him as he raced past; a bare root almost sent him sprawling. But he recovered and pressed ahead just in time to see a brilliant green flash light up the woods. He froze.

_ What was that! Was that … Ultima?_ Did Angeal have that materia? He didn't remember his mentor having it, but he had to have had it because dragons couldn't cast Ultima … could they?

"_Angeal!_" Springing back into action, Zack raced ahead and burst out into the slight opening of the forest where Angeal and the dragon had been fighting. He skidded to a stop at the top of the slope and desperately scanned the darkness below. "Angeal! Answer me!"

There were several tense moments of silence, during which Zack strained his ears for the slightest sound. There was what sounded like the _crack_ of a twig, but when Zack's eager eyes failed to pick out anything coming up from below, his hands curled into fists.

"Angeal! Are you alright? You better answer me, or, like it or not, I'm coming down there after you!" The tightness in his chest caused his voice to crack. Still, there was no answer. He paced along the dropoff, hoping to get a better angle to see down. "Angeal!"

Tense and worried, he finally decided that it was up to him to find his mentor. "Alright, you asked for it!" Reaching back, he drew his sword. "I'm coming after you!"

Just as he was about to leap down the slope, a loud _crash_ behind him made him jump. He whirled, hope rising that it might be Angeal.

It wasn't.

A second dragon was barreling down the hillside straight toward him.

* * *

><p>When Zack started calling for him, his first instinct was to yell out to the boy to quell his fears. But the realization struck that, although one dragon hunting chocobos <em>could<em> be a random occurrence, since dragons in this area of the world were extremely rare, it could also mean that the creature had deviated from its normal migration patterns in order to establish a nest away from rival dragons.

Which meant that there was likely a second dragon – a mate.

The noise of the battle would likely attract it, and if it hadn't, Zack's calling, very much like the wailing of a lost pup, certainly would.

As he hauled himself away from the body of the dead dragon on top of him and silently made his way back up the slope, he willed Zack to be quiet, to suddenly understand the situation and take cover until Angeal could find him. But Zack didn't, shouting out as if he feared that Angeal was dead.

_Zack, you ridiculous Puppy._

He ascended the slope as quickly and stealthily as he could, not wanting to become the target of another dragon himself. One had been bad enough – though he was a First, for a few nerve-wracking moments after he'd been propelled off the cliff, he hadn't known what was going to happen. The dragon had been weakened and critically wounded, but Angeal's last magic attack had backfired on him and pushed it over the edge – it had cast Ultima. Thank Gaia for Barrier and Restore. And thank Gaia it really had been a young dragon.

With any luck there would be only one of them. With any luck, he would make it back before something else was drawn by Zack's shouts and found him. And, with any luck, he and his student could go back to the more mundane, and much safer, aspects of monster hunting.

His luck ran out at the top of the hill, and his heart stopped when he saw the dragon charging toward his student, and the silly boy with his sword out, bracing for the attack as if he had any chance of defeating it.

* * *

><p>Zack glared down the charging dragon, heart twisting, and furious that it was going to keep him from looking for Angeal.<p>

A fleeting thought went through his head that maybe now he wouldn't get to look for Angeal, _at all_, or have the chance to do anything else anymore, but it came and left, and he was taking a step forward, lifting his sword, to begin rushing the dragon himself.

He yelled in defiance.

But the yell was cut short as something struck him hard, snagged him around his middle and knocked the air out of him. He was yanked off his feet, the sword knocked from his grip. His mouth opened in a wordless cry, and his fingers reached futilely for the sword, before he realized he'd been tucked underneath a very strong arm, and they were dashing out of the dragon's path. The dragon screamed in rage even as it barreled past them, gnashing its jaws and fanning wings, but unable to stop in time. Then it was obscured from his view by the appearance of a network of trees and foliage, as whoever had him continued into the woods.

He twisted around, fingers automatically latching onto the dark sweater of the person who carried him, to try to secure himself from the jarring ride. It turned out to be a very familiar sweater …

"A-Angeal! You're alive!" Ecstatic, Zack did his utmost to glomp Angeal right then and there, but had to settle for simply clutching the sweater tighter.

The SOLDIER First just tightened his grip on the boy in response.

Angeal didn't stop his flight until several minutes later at the top of a cliff, when he'd put enough distance between them and the dragon that it would hopefully not attempt to seek them out any time soon. He set Zack back onto his feet.

Zack took a few steps to get his feet back under him, and rubbed his stomach, a bit sore from the uncomfortable position under Angeal's arm. But it was forgotten as soon as he turned to see his mentor. A wide grin split his face.

"Angeal! I'm so glad you're-"

"What on Gaia were you _thinking_?" Angeal demanded, a scowl darkening his features.

Zack's grin dimmed at the edges. He faltered. "What-"

"I ordered you to _get out of there_. Do you think I risked my neck to save you, just so you can turn around and get yourself killed?"

"… A-Angeal …"

"I trusted you to do _exactly_ as I told you. No student of mine will _ever _disobey a direct order."

Zack took a step back. "B-but, Angeal, I was just-"

Angeal advanced on him, radiating fury. "Do you have any idea just how _foolish_ it was of you to come back?" He gestured wildly. "What if that first dragon had killed me and was waiting for you?"

"But-"

Angeal overrode him. "Not only that, but you deliberately put yourself in harm's way by facing down a charging dragon with no backup. Do you realize how _easily_ that dragon could have killed you? Do you realize that you would be _dead right now_ if I had not been there?"

Zack began to shake slightly, the gravity of his situation finally dawning on him as the adrenaline of the moment faded away. "B-but-"

Angeal gripped him tightly by the back of his collar. Zack flinched, half expecting a blow. "This sort of _reckless, irresponsible_ behavior cannot continue. It will only put yourself and others in danger, and jeopardize the mission. Do not _ever_ disobey an order from me again, do you understand me?" At the lack of an immediate response, Angeal shook the boy, drawing a frightened squeak as Zack shut his eyes. "_Do you understand me?_"

"Y-yes, s-sir," Zack replied in a small voice.

Angeal nodded in satisfaction and let go, stepping away and abruptly turning his back on his student. His hand slowly fisted. Maybe this event would finally teach Zack to curb his thoughtless impulses. His carelessness had nearly gotten himself killed! It was about time a good scare brought him back down to Earth, before things had a chance to go seriously wrong in the future.

Zack watched as Angeal moved away, too afraid to move from the spot, lest he draw his mentor's wrath a second time. He tried to mouth that he was sorry, but the words wouldn't come out. Angeal was … terrifying. He'd never acted that way before, and Zack had no idea what to make of it. … Angeal must hate him. He'd been so stupid …

The furious words echoed through his mind, acidic in their intensity. And what Angeal had said about the dragon … Once again, he clearly saw the monster tearing through the forest straight toward him, unbelievably huge, and incredibly fast, all teeth and claws and bellowing rage. _It had almost … it had almost …_ His quaking intensified, and he sunk down, pulling up his knees and clutching the fabric tightly.

Angeal sighed, gazing down at the view of the valley beneath them. Now that he'd had a moment to let his anger simmer down, he felt entirely disgusted with the situation and himself. A sick feeling curdled in the pit of his stomach at the thought of how close he'd come to getting Zack killed. He'd been so _careless_ … Maybe he'd rushed into things too quickly. Maybe Zack just wasn't ready for this yet. Perhaps it would simply be a good idea to cancel the training and head back, give Zack a little more experience in the simulations and try again later.

As he mused, the uncharacteristic silence from his companion finally drew his attention. He glanced over at the boy, only to find him sitting on the rock, curled up tightly with arms wrapped around his knees. He took note of the young Third's trembling, the way his jaw was clenched, and how his eyes stared sightlessly through the rock at his feet. Angeal's eyes widened in silent surprise, then softened. His heart twisted.

"Oh, Zack …" He returned to the boy and knelt beside him. Zack hesitantly raised his eyes, then quickly looked away, hugging his knees tighter.

Angeal sighed. "Zack, look at me." The boy's face twisted, and he buried his head in his arms, instead. "Zack …" The First rested a gloved hand on his head. In response, Zack shuddered, his breath hitching. When no other action seemed forthcoming, Angeal continued. "Zack, I … I'm sorry. I'm not angry with you. I was just worried. … Seeing you in front of that dragon … I was afraid I wouldn't get there in time."

There was a long moment before Zack shifted and finally spoke in a quiet voice. "But you w-would! You're a F-First." His voice shook as he tried to hold back a flood of emotions.

Angeal smiled sadly. How was it that this boy could have such faith in him, even upset as he was? He had to remind himself that Zack was only fourteen, too young and impressionable. "Even I cannot do everything," he replied. On impulse, he let his fingers run through Zack's hair. "… Were you afraid?" The question was gentle, promising no judgment.

Zack shook his head. He hadn't been afraid of the dragon then, only now, after the fact. "… Just of you not c-comin' back."

Angeal could only imagine Zack's worry, feeling lost, and compelled to face the dragon on his own. "Don't be. I promise that I will never leave you."

Zack stirred. "… You promise?"

"I promise."

Finally, Zack raised his head, just enough to peer up at Angeal with bright, violet eyes. Angeal read the misery there, the frightened understanding of the dangerous position he'd put himself in. Without needing to be prompted, the First wrapped strong arms gently around him, drawing him close. Zack leaned into the embrace, burying his face in his mentor's chest, and latching onto his sweater.

Angeal rubbed his back soothingly. "You know I would never let anything happen to you, if I could help it, don't you?"

Zack nodded, wordlessly.

Angeal was content to hold him for a few moments, until Zack shifted slightly to talk without his voice ending up quite so muffled.

"Angeal … you're okay, right?"

The First felt fingers tighten their grip on his sweater, and he quirked an eyebrow in slight amusement at the spiky hair under his chin, humming an affirmative. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"'Cause I … I thought I saw something cast Ultima. I was worried it was the dragon."

"It _was_ the dragon."

"_What?_" Zack jerked back, eyes frantically scanning his mentor in worry. "I thought you said you're okay!"

Angeal couldn't help the small quirk of a smile. "Zack, Ultima isn't a death sentence. Certainly not for Firsts." When the young SOLDIER continued to gaze at him doubtfully, Angeal when on to explain: "I was able to raise a Reflect Wall in time to divert the worst of the magic. It wasn't impenetrable, but that's what a good Restore is for. I promise you, I'm fine."

Zack still wasn't entirely convinced, but if Angeal said he was alright … "How did you kill the dragon, then?"

"The Reflect did much of the work for me. But the thing became vicious and uncontrollable after that, and I was pinned beneath it, without a sword. So I resorted to using the concentrated magic from the Ice materia … and froze its heart."

Zack's eyes widened. He froze … its _heart_? The boy shuddered. He hadn't even known materia could be used that way. It sounded … horrible.

Angeal watched Zack's face, examining the thoughts displayed there. He wasn't particularly proud of what he'd done himself. There really was no limit to what you could use materia for, and it was possible to be quite … inventive … with its uses. He tried to avoid such attacks if at all possible – they were cruel and usually unnecessary. But sometimes you had to do as circumstances dictated, in order to survive.

"Materia is a wonderful thing. It can decide the fate of battles, it allows us to access extraordinary powers that put us on even footing with the most dangerous creatures in this world, and its use is limited only by your creativity and imagination. But not every use of the magic is honorable. It is up to you to decide for yourself what is right or wrong. In the end, we do as we must."

Zack bit his lip, somewhat troubled by the thought of using materia so callously. Would he ever have to do something like that? He wanted to shake his head, to deny it, but what if he someday ended up in Angeal's position and had no choice? Could he do it? He wasn't entirely sure he could.

They sat together on the cliffs for a short while longer, Angeal content to allow Zack to take comfort in the rare moment of closeness, and the First, for his part, enjoying the rare moment of silence. Somewhere in the forest below them, rang the bellow of a dragon. Zack's freeze went almost unnoticed by Angeal, as he listened to his own thoughts.

Almost.

Slowly, Angeal pulled back from his student. "Zack … I think it's time we go back."

Zack glanced up at him in confusion. "Back? Where?"

"To Midgar."

_Midgar?_ "… What for? We still have, like, three weeks left of training! Did something come up?"

"No …" Angeal hedged. "I just think our time would be put to better use training there."

"Huh?" Still confused, Zack cocked his head. "What do you …" Suddenly, he realized where this was going. "No!" He shot to his feet in protest. "You can't mean that! I'm sorry, Angeal, I really am!" His eyes were desperate, pleading. "I'm sorry, I know I messed up, but I'll do better, I'll do everything you say, Angeal, I _promise_ I will, just don't send me back!"

Angeal rose. "Zack, this doesn't have anything to do with your performance. I just don't want to rush you when you're not ready. I think I was too optimistic-"

"_What?_" Zack looked at him with wounded eyes.

Angeal mentally kicked himself. "Not optimistic … hopeful-"

Zack's expression fell further.

Damn it, he was royally screwing things up. "I expected more of you than I had a right to," he amended. "You're still learning, Zack, and I was unprepared for what we would encounter. This mission was above your level." But that did nothing to comfort Zack, as the young SOLDIER backed away, shaking his head in denial. Angeal tried again. "It's my own fault that-"

"_Please_, Angeal! I can do it, I know I can!" He couldn't bear the thought that he'd failed to live up to Angeal's expectations, and the First's former words of removing him from the mentor program ran through his mind. "Just give me a chance. I'll listen harder, I'll ask more questions, I'll practice better … I'll practice _longer_, I'll … I'll … _fight_ better!" Reaching around, he sought to draw out his sword to make the point, only to grasp thin air where the weapon used to be. He froze, then his shoulders slumped, and his hand dropped to his side, fisting helplessly. He turned forlorn eyes onto his mentor. "Please … just don't send me back. I'll do _anything_."

"Zack …"

"Just one more chance. _Please_."

Angeal gazed at his student, torn by the helpless, pleading expression. How could he say no? It would crush him. Clearly, Zack was more afraid of failure than anything else, and, despite anything Angeal might say to remove that concern, the boy would still take it as a failure on his part if they went back.

Angeal sighed, eyes softening. "Alright."

Zack blinked. "Wha-? Really?"

"Yes, really."

And just like that, Zack's face lit up. "Angeal, you're the best!" He threw his arms around his mentor, drawing a startled "Oof."

"Hey, now, take it easy." Awkwardly, he patted Zack's head.

"So what're we gonna do? Hunt down more replicons? Or spriggans? I know what a spriggan looks like now, I promise, so I'll be sure to find the right ones-"

"Actually …" Angeal chuckled. "We've still got a dragon to take care of."

Zack's eyes widened, and he drew back to stare at his mentor.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. It's a Green Dragon – it's not as dangerous as the one I killed. I think, together, we should be able to handle it." He angled a stern eye down at his student. "That is, if you do as I say."

"… For real?" The voice was hopeful, his fear already forgotten at the thought of being able to fight side-by-side with his mentor, on a _real_ mission.

Angeal couldn't help the one-sided smile. "For real."

* * *

><p><strong>End Part I<strong>


	2. Remorse

**Author's Notes:** The argument in here is one of my favorite parts, ever. Zack not only pulled a fast one on Angeal, he pulled a fast one on me, because I totally did not see the result of the argument coming.

By the way, furious Angeal is scary. XD

* * *

><p><strong>Part II: Remorse<strong>

Between the two of them, the second dragon was handled relatively easily. Rather than having his student take the primary point of attack, he had Zack in the position of support – but it was a close support, with the boy in the fray with him, and providing crucial assistance. Though Zack's Barrier materia was yet at a low level, and his own concentration not strong enough for the magic to be of much use, Angeal instructed him to keep them covered at all times. And, it might have been his imagination, but the Barriers Zack cast seemed to get just a little stronger with the urgency of the situation pressing upon them.

Unfortunately, Zack's Fire saw no use at all, Green Dragons being able to absorb the magic, much like the Dark Dragon had been able to absorb Angeal's Lightning. Zack wasn't strong enough to handle the level of Angeal's materia either, so the First kept it for his own use. In the end, they took the dragon down almost exclusively with steel, Zack moving in to attack when Angeal instructed, and getting quickly out of the way when he instructed, but also succeeding in a few opportunistic strikes of his own.

Injuries were minimal, and Zack, for his part, only got tail-whipped once, though that was enough for Angeal – the feeling of liquid horror shooting through his heart as he saw his student flying through the air was almost enough to fry his nerves, so soon after the boy almost getting trampled by the dragon earlier. But the young SOLDIER seemed relatively unharmed, immediately leaping back into the fight. And he learned quickly, keeping a sharp eye on the dragon's flailing tail from then onward.

Angeal was the one to make the final blow – a direct strike to the dragon's heart, which Zack had helped create the opening for. The boy was knocked over again in the dragon's death throes, but only because he hadn't seen the wing coming before it _whapped_ him over he head.

Angeal waited for the dragon to quiet, before making his way over to his student and offering a hand up. "You okay?" He noticed the slight wince as Zack got back to his feet, but Zack shook it off.

"Yeah. You?"

Angeal grunted. "You've aged me fifty years today, but aside from that, I'm fine."

Zack gave him a cheeky grin. "You wear your gray hairs well, old man!"

Angeal promptly cuffed him lightly on the head. "Who are you calling 'old man'?" He turned away to examine the dragon, grumbling. "Whippersnappers these days have no respect for their elders." But there was an amused light in his eyes.

Zack followed his gaze, then suddenly jumped into the air with a fist pump, giving a loud _whoop_ of glee. "_That was so awesome!_ Did you _see_ that thing Angeal? We totally kicked its backside! It didn't even know what hit it! We make an awesome team!"

The First raised an eyebrow, finding it hard not to smile at his student's enthusiasm. "We didn't do too badly together," he agreed. Then he started forward, intending to ensure that the dragon was truly dead. "Wait here."

A thorough check revealed that the dragon was indeed dead. It had no heartbeat, had ceased breathing, and, unlike the Dark Dragon, there were no poisonous fumes from the air in its lungs, or toxins in its blood, to worry about. Satisfied, he glanced over his shoulder to call his student over … only to see that Zack was no longer there.

"… Why … did I not see this coming?" With a resigned sigh, he clambered down from the dragon. "Zack?" He rounded the corpse in time to see the boy scampering up the short, rocky hillside to a shallow cave.

* * *

><p>Zack entered the cavern cautiously, sword held in front of him to ward off any possible dangers, and Fire materia flickering in its hilt as he attempted to keep it charged. The outside light trickled into the large entrance, allowing him to see quite well, but letting deep shadows grow and collect behind rocks and in crevices. The lofty ceiling soared above him, giving the area a spacious feel. Green light from the materia edged nearby surfaces and illuminated his own shadow.<p>

The floor of the cavern was made of one large piece of granite, gently sloping upward and back into the cave. As he continued inward, he realized that the cave didn't go that far back – probably just enough to keep the elements off of one, maybe two dragons, but that was it. Wide and shallow, it was really just a depression in the side of the mountain. Large boulders jutted up from the floor near the back.

As he neared the boulders, his eye caught on something unexpected – a small pile of large, oblong rocks sitting in the middle of a stone shelf, on top of what looked like … leaves. Leaves and a whole lot of feathers. He drew closer.

Were those … eggs? No way! Abandoning caution, he quickened his pace and knelt beside them. Hammering the materia out of his sword's hilt, he held the stone up to them, giving it a useless shake to make the light stay constant. It was hard to tell in the green glow and the pale light from the cave entrance, but they appeared to be slate gray in color, with some kind of fine speckling. Tentatively, he reached out to touch one, pulling off his glove. It was warm and smooth … with the characteristic, shallow dimples of eggshell. It _was_ an egg!

"Wow …" he breathed. A slow grin split his features. A real live dragon egg! There were four of them, each one looking to be a little longer than a foot.

The scuff of a boot on stone startled him, and he whipped around, raising his sword, only to sag in relief when he saw it was only Angeal.

"Jeez, you startled me!" But that quickly forgotten, he indicated the eggs, resting a hand on one. "Look, Angeal. Dragon eggs!"

Caught up in gazing at them in awe, he almost didn't notice the long stretch of silence from his mentor. When he did look up, he was stunned to see the First with his sword raised. Zack immediately jerked backward.

"Whoa, what are you doing!" Upon following the man's gaze to the eggs, realization dawned, and he jumped back in front of them. "Wait! Hey! You're not gonna destroy them, are you?"

"Get out of the way, Zack."

"What? No! They're just _eggs_, Angeal!"

"They're _dragons_." His tone was hard. "They're dangerous."

"They're _baby_ dragons! You can't _kill_ 'em!" On seeing that his mentor had no intention of backing down anytime soon, Zack scowled and stepped forward to push him back. "_Angeal!_"

Unmoving, Angeal firmly shoved Zack to the side. "Stay out of this." He stepped forward, quickly bringing his sword up and letting it fall.

Quite unexpectedly, a loud _clang_ diverted the blade to the side, just in time. Angeal stared at the sword that had intercepted him, following it up to his student's agonized face.

"I'm not letting you do this!" Zack stood, arms trembling at the effort of holding up his mentor's blade with his own.

Slowly, the First stepped back, lifting his blade off his student's to give him some relief. He stared, bewildered, at the boy. Zack had actually _defied_ him? With a sword? His eyes narrowed.

"Watch yourself, Zack," he warned. "This isn't your fight."

Zack shook his head. "Why would you do this? This is like … like killing _puppies_, Angeal! You're not a puppy-killer, are you?" He gazed up at his mentor, eyes hurt, still unable to believe that Angeal, of all people, would do something like this.

_Puppies?_ Gaia … "_Zack_ … dragons grow up to _eat puppies_!" _Like you!_ he wanted to shout. He stared down his student. "Get out of the way."

"No!" Zack shook his head wildly. "I won't let you! What did they ever do to you? They're innocent!"

Angeal steeled himself against Zack's plaintive expression. "You're being completely unreasonable. If we let these dragons live, they will grow up and become the monsters that you and I were forced to kill. The monsters that nearly killed _you_. They're close enough to the farms out here that other people, along with their livestock – their livelihood – will also be killed as they grow and need more food, and ShinRa will just deploy additional troops to take them out, perhaps resulting in yet more casualties that we could prevent here and now."

"But, Angeal-"

"And that's only _if_ they survive long enough to hatch, let alone fend for themselves in the wilderness. Dragons grow quickly, but at this stage, with both parents dead, they probably won't even make it that far. They'll either grow cold in the shell and die, or hatch and eventually starve to death or be picked off by predators. Is that what you want?" Zack shook his head in weak protest, but it was hard to deny the hard truth of the matter. "I'm doing them a _kindness_ by ending it now, Zack."

"But there's _gotta_ be another way …"

Angeal shook his head. "_Believe_ me … I hate this as much as you do." His own voice came out pained. To end such young and innocent lives … Even worse that this was brought about because of their own actions in killing the parents. But it couldn't be helped. It was just the way things were.

Zack's sword slowly lowered, and he gazed sadly at the eggs. "… It's just not _fair_ …"

"I'm sorry, Zack." He stepped up to do the deed. Once again, he raised the blade to strike.

"… No, wait!" Yet again, the blade was forced to miss.

Angeal growled, his patience wearing thin. "Damnit, Zack-"

"What if we took care of them?" A spark of hope lit up the young SOLDIER's eyes. "We're the ones that put them in this position in the first place! It's not right to just _kill_ them because of it!"

Angeal looked at Zack as if he'd grown a second head. "_Take care of them?_ Zack, are you _listening_ to yourself?" He lowered his blade, incredulous. "What would you have us do, bring them back to Midgar as _pets_? That would be a fine development, wouldn't it, especially when they got big enough to eat _real_ pets. What, did you think you could domesticate them? They're _dragons_. They're _wild animals_. _They cannot be domesticated._"

"Well, have you ever _tried_?"

"There is no need to try! Dragons cannot be pets! Besides, even supposing we did take them back, the scientists would have a field day studying them! Especially Hojo – I'm sure he would be _quite_ pleased to get his hands on one. Is that what you want?"

"N-no … of course not! Can't we just-"

"_No_, Zack."

Zack scowled. "You're not even listening!"

"I said _no_. And that's final."

"You don't even want to _try_! Are you too afraid something's gonna go wrong? Huh?"

"_Zack_ …"

"You know what? This is … this is _dishonorable_, that's what this is."

"_Dishonorable?_ What-"

Zack pointed a finger at him. "It's _dishonorable_. It's _your_ fault these baby dragons are in this position, and now you won't even do anything to help fix it!"

Angeal sputtered. "_M-my_ fault! Wha-"

"Yeah. And I'm not gonna let you kill them! I can't believe you, Angeal, I thought you were better than that."

Angeal stared down his student with narrowed eyes, the boy meeting his gaze and refusing to budge. Finally, he snapped. "Alright, Zack. Get out of the way. That's enough of this foolishness." He stepped forward to shove the boy to the side.

All at once, Zack's Barrier materia flared and put a wall between the two of them, and around the eggs. Angeal grunted at the impact, was forced back. "What the-" His eyes widened. Then he whirled on his student, raw anger causing the Mako in his eyes to flare. "Remove this Barrier. _Now_."

Zack gulped, having never seen such fury from his mentor before. But he refused to budge, instead narrowing his own eyes. "_No._"

A moment passed. Then the First abruptly struck out at the Barrier, fully expecting it to shatter as easily as it had before. To his utter astonishment, it held. He struck again, with the same results. Zack's fists were clenched, the materia shining brightly.

They were at a stalemate.

* * *

><p><em>Mom always said my impulsiveness would get me into trouble.<em> Zack was huddled near the eggs, staring past the Barrier at the rigid back of his mentor, who sat on the other side, facing away from him. They'd been sitting like that for the past fifteen minutes, and during that entire time, Angeal hadn't said a thing. Zack wished he could see his face to know what he was thinking.

_I'm gonna get booted outta SOLDIER for sure this time,_ he lamented. _If Angeal doesn't kill me first. _At least the First hadn't tried to blast his way through the Barrier with his materia. Zack was sure it wouldn't have held up at all to that. He buried his face in his arms. _This is the worst day of my entire life._

A flickering of the magic alerted him to the fact that the Barrier had begun to fail, yet again. With another effort of focus, he renewed it, at the same time wondering how long he could keep going like this. He was sure it wasn't much longer, and, when it failed for good, he had no idea what was going to happen. What would Angeal do? He had to come up with a plan! He hadn't even had a clear idea of what he was going to do with the eggs.

He glanced over at them, giving the nearest one a soothing rub. _Can't take them back to Midgar … can't keep them anywhere, really, 'cause Angeal's probably right …_ He frowned. There had to be something they could do!

Finally, an idea occurred to him. What if they just found another dragon to take care of the eggs? Somewhere far enough away from civilization that they wouldn't grow up to kill people? That might work! It was the only thing that made much sense so far, though he had no idea what Angeal would think of it.

_He'd probably think it was stupid, just like all my other ideas …_

Well, he didn't have to tell Angeal. Abruptly, he slid the pack off his back and got to work.

When Angeal first heard the rustling coming from behind him, he stubbornly ignored it. If Zack was going to do something as outrageous as erecting a Barrier between him and his mentor – and a dang good one too, to be honest – then he could just sit there until he collapsed from magic exhaustion, as far as Angeal was concerned. Then he'd just take the disobedient boy back to Midgar, and … well, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

_Blasted teenager. Never in my_ life _…_

But the rustling continued, until Angeal, pushed beyond his limits and finally convinced that the sound wasn't as innocent as it first appeared, turned around and snapped, "What are you doing?"

Zack jumped, immediately looking up with an expression reminiscent of getting his hand caught in the cookie jar. But then he scowled and went back to what he was doing, resolutely ignoring his mentor.

"_Zack._ I asked you a question," he demanded.

But though another fleeting image of guilt passed across his face, Zack refused to answer. Apparently, Angeal was getting the silent treatment. He sighed in irritation, rubbing the bridge of his nose, the pounding behind his eyes intensifying.

Just _how_ had they gotten into this situation again?

Raising his head, he observed Zack's activities. He'd apparently dumped the entire contents of his pack onto the ground, and was now packing feathers from the nest into the bottom of it. He watched for a few minutes.

"… You realize that those are _chocobo_ feathers, don't you?" Angeal was trying to make the point that the dragons had likely brutally killed several chocobos just to make the nest.

Zack stilled for a moment, then shrugged, resolutely continuing his packing. "Yeah, I know."

Angeal grunted. He turned back around as Zack began to carefully fit an egg into the pack, and rested his arms on his knees. "You going to carry that all the way back to Midgar?"

"_No._" There was a stretch of silence, and Angeal began to think that Zack simply wasn't going to tell him what he was doing. Then the boy spoke up, voice subdued and somewhat hesitant, as if he thought Angeal would ridicule what he was about to say. "I'm … I'm gonna find another dragon to take care of them."

That brought Angeal twisting around again in surprised disbelief. "Oh you _are_, are you?"

Zack just scowled at his tone and went back to packing more feathers around the first egg.

Another grunt. "And _how_ do you propose to _find_ another dragon, let alone give it the eggs?"

The young SOLDIER shrugged, not looking at him. He carefully set a second egg in with the first. Over that went another pile of feathers. "I'll figure out something," he finally responded, sullenly.

"I see, I see." Angeal watched as Zack zipped up the pack, then proceeded to tie off the holes in two of his SOLDIER-issue sweaters to create makeshift sacks for the last two eggs. These he also stuffed with the yellow feathers. "You may want some of the other supplies you're leaving behind." The First gestured to the rest of the items piled on the ground.

"I know what I'm doing!" Zack snapped. He clipped or tied whatever else he could to the outside of his pack, shot a mournful glance at his prized behemoth plush, Mochi, before abruptly unzipping the pack just enough to cram it halfway inside, then stood, leaving the items he was unable to fit where they lay on the stone floor. Slinging the pack on over his sword, he gathered up the bulging shirts, one in each hand, and trudged out of the cave. The barrier flickered once; with barely a pause, Zack renewed the magic and continued.

_… He's really going to go through with this …?_ Angeal watched as the Third strolled out of the entrance, never once glancing back at his mentor. The First's indignant anger slowly faded to bewilderment, and maybe just a touch of admiration. _Dang, stubborn kid._ He had to admit, though he hadn't seen the minor rebellion coming, he also hadn't expected the boy to go so long without bowing to his mentor's wishes. And to use his own argument of honor against him …

_Was I so wrong? Did Zack see something that I did not?_ Perhaps … or perhaps, it was just a matter of simple belief.

_Wishful thinking is more like._

Still, that innocent conviction that they had to do the right thing, and that _this_ was the right thing to do, stopped Angeal in his tracks, when he might have otherwise halted the boy. After a thoughtful moment, he gathered up the supplies Zack left behind, fitted them within his own pack, and headed out.

_Who is the one_ really _in need of lessons here, eh, Angeal?_

Following at a distance, Angeal was left to his own contemplations. After a short while, he took out his phone. Hesitating, he finally chose a number and dialed it in. The phone rang twice.

_"Angeal,"_ the voice of ShinRa's most famous SOLDIER greeted. _"I'm surprised to hear from you. How is your training going?"_

"Sephiroth. It's going … reasonably well." He coughed. "For the most part. … Just a minor case of 'disobedient puppy.'"

_"… I see."_ Though his tone said that he really didn't.

Angeal cleared his throat. "Look, Sephiroth, the real reason I called you is this: I need to know whether there have been any reports of … dragons … on the continent. Preferably in the mountains south of here."

_"Dragons?"_ A note of surprise came through the line.

"Yes … Please, don't ask." His voice was pained.

_"Very well."_ There were several long moments of silence, as Angeal imagined the General running a check for the information he requested. _"… We have records of intercepted communications with Fort Condor – the chatter indicates a dragon sighting. Evidence shows mobilization to prepare for an attack, but nothing seems to have come of it. Of course, the dragon may or may not be based in the mountains, and could just as likely be passing through."_

"I understand. How long ago?"

_"Two weeks."_

"Number of dragons?"

_"Unknown. There was only the one mentioned."_

"Alright." Angeal sucked in a breath, making his decision. "It'll have to do."

_"… Shall I assume you do not want ShinRa notified of your plans, since you did not go through normal information channels?"_

"Yes." Angeal paused. "… Thank you, Sephiroth."

There was a brief silence on the other end, as Angeal imagined the General inclining his head. _"… Good luck with your puppy problems."_

Angeal couldn't help a chuckle, as the call ended. Then, glancing up at the rebellious puppy in question, he quickened his stride. If they were going to work together on this, it wouldn't due for Zack to stay mad at him, after all.

* * *

><p>Zack had soon discovered that hiking with two hefty bundles hanging from his hands like grocery bags was only somewhat less obnoxious than having a small toy dog yap at him and being unable to tell it to be quiet. He shifted the eggs around to carry in front, with both arms securely wrapped around them, and found it a little better, but still not the ideal position to be in, especially when he didn't want to stumble over a root. He spent a moment wishing for a box, but soon gave it up as futile. He was beginning not to care too much at the moment, anyway.<p>

He'd been feeling … odd since he left the cave, drained and slightly sick, as if he'd gone a long while on a hot day without food, only had never gotten hungry enough to let him know he should eat something. He frowned, hugging the eggs closer. The last thing he needed was to get sick!

Five minutes outside the cave, his last Barrier failed. But he barely noticed it; a sudden wave of weakness and vertigo struck him. He stumbled, steps faltering.

_Keep it together, keep it together …_

But the world decided to dump him on his head.

The next thing he knew, Angeal had his arms securely wrapped around him, keeping him from falling.

"Easy there, Zack." The First attempted to remove the eggs from his arms, only for him to reflexively clutch at them, spots dancing in front of his eyes. "Hey, hey, I'm not going to do anything to them; they'll be fine," he soothed. "But you need to let go."

Zack tried to stay mad at him, but his arms cooperated without his permission, and he was suddenly sitting on the ground with Angeal propping him up. Something was being held up to his lips. "Drink this."

He did. The cool liquid had a lightly sweet flavor, and as soon as it hit his tongue and slid down his throat, it soothed the sickness and cleared his head, banishing the shaky feel from his limbs. It was incredibly refreshing. He closed his eyes, sighing in relief and slumping backwards.

"Zack. _Zack._" A hand gently shook his shoulder, and he lazily opened his eyes again in time to meet Angeal's. "Don't let it go to your head." He chuckled. "They pack a wallop your first couple of times. You alright?"

"Yeah …" The word came out as a breathy sigh. He straightened, giving himself a shake. "What … what was that?"

"Ether. You drained almost all your energy maintaining that Barrier."

Was it Zack's imagination, or was there a note of pride in his mentor's voice? Nah, it couldn't be.

"Look at me." Angeal placed both his hands on either side of Zack's face, tilting his head back to better see into his eyes. The pupils were slightly dilated from the effects of the Ether, but other than that, they looked normal. Angeal nodded his approval, then ruffled Zack's hair and stood. "You'll be fine."

Zack watched him rise and step away, acting as if none of the past thirty minutes had ever happened. All of a sudden, he felt incredibly awkward, unsure what to do. Should he act the same? Stay angry? Put up another Barrier and go? It seemed a moot point now – Angeal had had plenty of opportunity to get rid of the eggs just now if he wanted, yet had done nothing.

He let his gaze fall to the ground, rubbing the back of his neck. There was a long moment where he tried to figure out what to say. Finally, he spoke.

"… Angeal, I … I'm sorry. I … don' know why I did that. It just sorta happened, an' I know I shouldn't've, but I did anyway. It was stupid. I just didn't want you to hurt the eggs, but you weren't listening, an' I guess I panicked, an' wasn't really thinking, so I just cast Barrier, and …" He trailed off, realizing that he was rambling. "Yeah, so … Anyway, I really am sorry." He glumly stared at some rocks to the side, unwilling to meet his mentor's eyes.

Somewhat surprised, Angeal considered his student, noting the thickening of the boy's Gongagan accent, something that occurred whenever he was overly upset. Then he returned to his side, settling onto the ground beside him. Zack's gaze flicked up to him for an instant, then went back to studying the rocks, unwilling to see the disappointment that he was sure would be reflected in his mentor's face.

"Zack … I may have acted a bit rashly myself," he conceded. At Zack's startled look, he amended, "Though that doesn't excuse what you did-" he cast a stern glance at the boy, "-I think we could both have handled the situation better."

"… So, you're not … mad at me?" Hope lit up his eyes.

Angeal chuckled. "I didn't say that." Zack's face fell. "Rest assured, you will be facing the consequences for your actions. … But I do understand where you were coming from."

Zack scuffed the ground with his boot, inwardly groaning at whatever "consequences" there might be.

"… What about the eggs?"

Angeal leaned his head back and sighed, pondering the situation one more time before committing to his decision. Zack grew increasingly uncomfortable, fearing that the silence was not good. Finally, his mentor answered.

"Are you set on finding a way to keep these eggs alive?"

"_Yes!_" The response was immediate, Zack's eyes instantly coming up to lock with his mentor's. "It's our fault they're gonna die – I know we did what we had to do, and I don't regret that, but it's so unfair to the eggs if we don't do something for them, to at least give them a chance!"

"Even if it means tracking down another dragon, however long or difficult that may be?"

A vehement nod. "Yes!"

"Even if it means possibly failing, being forced to kill the other dragon, and letting the eggs die, anyway?"

Zack paled slightly at the thought, but steeled himself and nodded. "Yes."

That was what he wanted to hear. Angeal looked away to hide the upward quirk of his lips. "Very well then." He nodded.

Zack blinked. "Wha … You mean, we're going to do it?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

"Really?" Zack still couldn't believe his ears. After all that, Angeal was going to give in?

"Yes, Zack. Really."

For the second time that day, the young SOLDIER let out a whoop of joy, flinging his arms around his mentor. "You're the best, Angeal!"

The First grunted. "Don't get used to it." He pulled away and stood, pointing a finger of warning at the boy. "You're still not out of the dog house."

"Right, I haven't forgotten!" But Zack's grin would not be quelled. In a moment, he had scooped up the eggs and hopped back onto the path he'd been taking.

Angeal watched him for a moment. Then he cleared his throat to get his attention. "Zack? Your dragon – it's _this_ way." He inclined his head in the opposite direction.

"… Oh. Right!" Doing a one-eighty, he bounded after his mentor.

Unable to mask his amusement, Angeal shook his head.

_Just like a puppy._

* * *

><p>That night was a late one, as the two weary SOLDIERs hiked further up the mountain, Angeal wanting to gain enough altitude that they would be in a better position of spying dragons from afar – if there were any. Finally, Zack's nodding off – and his most recent stumble into Angeal – convinced the First that it was time to call it a night.<p>

They found a secluded grove, and Angeal roused Zack and put him to work gathering the material for a fire. It would be significantly cooler tonight than it had been down on the plains, and they needed to ensure the eggs were kept warm enough. Plus, a hot meal would be a nice bonus.

For his part, Angeal began unpacking the eggs from their packs. He'd taken two of them to carry himself – there'd been some shuffling, but he had managed to arrange the rest of their gear around them without leaving anything behind, though it had been tight. Tonight, he would use up a little more of their food stores for their meal in order to free up some additional room, and plan to hunt for additional meat at some point down the road.

"When do you think they'll hatch?"

Angeal started slightly from where he'd been kneeling. He glanced over to find Zack, with an armload of sticks, right beside him. The boy was gazing reverently at the two eggs the First had taken out.

"… Shouldn't you be doing something with those sticks?"

"Oh. Right!" The Third scurried about, arranging them for the fire.

Angeal went back to unpacking the third and fourth eggs. "… I don't know when they'll hatch," he finally answered. "I'm no expert on dragon egg development. It could be as soon as tonight, or as late as weeks or months from now. They may not even hatch at all – we have no idea how healthy these eggs are." He didn't want to say that the very act of removing them from the nest might have sealed their fate. They still felt warm, and somehow _alive_, now, but as for how long that would last … only Gaia knew. He hoped that they would be able to pawn the eggs off on another dragon before they ever found out. Zack would be crushed to learn that the eggs had died in his care.

"I hope they hatch soon!" Zack had finished arranging the wood, and now stood back, charging up his Fire to light it up.

Angeal snorted. "Why?" What a pain that would be, dealing with baby dragons. To his knowledge, no one had attempted to raise the creatures, save for a few stories he had heard about some secretive tribe up north. But he could only imagine that they would be a handful just in trying to keep them fed, and it was possible they'd be aggressive, or, at the very least, unintentionally dangerous if they couldn't control their breath weapon.

"Because it would be so awesome!" The Fire materia flared brightly, and Zack sent out quite a respectable fireball toward the woodpile, which caught. "Can you imagine, Angeal? Baby dragons!" He was grinning from ear to ear at the thought, too excited about the prospect to have registered the success of his own magic use. "I bet they'll be so cute, with their little wings and tails, and their tiny little claws!"

"It would be also much more difficult to get them to where we're going."

"Aw, who cares? It would be worth it!"

"You're in charge of them, then, if they hatch," Angeal replied, in a tone that revealed that he didn't think it would happen any time soon. "I'll expect you to keep them in line."

"You got it! I wonder what we should name them?" Zack settled down near the eggs, arranging them a little closer to the fire and piling the chocobo feathers over them. Deciding it wasn't enough, he proceeded to yank out his extra uniforms to cover them with.

Watching, Angeal shook his head. "I don't think we should name them anything. Remember, Zack, these aren't pets. We can't keep them, no matter how attached you get to them. We need to give them away, one way or another, and naming them will make it just that much harder."

Zack rolled his eyes. "How would we call them, then? We can't just call them 'Dragon One' and 'Dragon Two'!"

A grunt. "I rather thought 'Hey You' would suffice."

"An-_geal_!"

The First chuckled and set about preparing their meal.

* * *

><p>Belly full and utterly content, Zack reclined in his sleeping roll, drowsy, but not yet willing to commit to sleep. He gazed up at the stars through the overhead tree branches, head pillowed on his arms. The fire still crackled merrily at his feet.<p>

Today had been … _amazing_. Just the thought of having found four dragon eggs made him want to bounce around in excitement. He was pretty sure Angeal was excited too, the way Zack wanted him to be – he was just too old to show it.

He still couldn't believe their luck … or that Angeal was really letting them hunt down another dragon to give the eggs to. He wouldn't have pegged Angeal as the type to go with a plan that was such a long shot, and he still wasn't sure why he had. Either Zack had really gotten him with that honor argument – because, really, he wouldn't have thought he'd have a snowball's chance in Ifrit's claws at out-arguing _Angeal_ – or … something. He just didn't know.

One thing's for sure – he bet that none of the _other_ Thirds got to do any of the awesome stuff that he and Angeal did! Yep, he totally had just about the coolest mentor _ever_. He couldn't wait to tell Kunsel and see the expression on his friend's face.

Still remembering the day's events, Zack drifted off.

_He was burning, burning. But his feet wouldn't move, couldn't move, and he couldn't outrun the thing behind him._

_Fire._

_Ash._

_Darkness._

_It had already gotten Angeal, and now it was coming for him. The forest closed around him, red and black, blocking him in; he could hear the heaving of its great lungs, feel the scorching wind of its breath on his neck. He turned, heart hammering in his chest._

_Not Angeal, no!_

_But Angeal was gone, and he was next._

_Fire. Ash. Darkness. He couldn't breathe, and then there were teeth and claws and red and black and heat and pain and it was all coming for …_

_Him!_

Zack jerked awake with a sharp gasp, eyes flying open. His heart pounded. A lingering terror kept him petrified inside his sleeping bag, and he clutched his behemoth plush tightly.

It was … just a dream, wasn't it? Yeah, that's all it was. There couldn't be a real dragon out there, in the dark. … Could there?

He stilled, holding his breath, and strained his ears to listen to the night around him, his quick heartbeat thumping in his ears.

He could hear … the wind. Yeah, that's all it was. … Though it was awfully strange the way it seemed to slither heavily through the undergrowth like a slinking dragon … and the way it sounded like the heavy bellows of a dragon's lungs, or maybe like footsteps carrying something massive …

And the branches above him – were those really branches? Or were they dragon claws, slowly reaching out for him …

Zack's eyes widened, and for a single, horrible moment, he remained frozen, unsure whether to stay still or to move and fling the edge of the sleeping bag over his head.

Abruptly, with a jolt of adrenaline, he sat up, unable to take it … only to find Angeal calmly sitting across from the fire, against a fallen log, writing in his journal. His shoulders slumped in relief.

The sheer normalcy of the scene, warmly lit by the cheery fire, instantly banished his fears to the back of his mind. There were no dragons. Angeal certainly wouldn't be sitting there writing if there were. He sighed softly, watching his mentor for a few moments. The man didn't even look up.

Writing was something Angeal had done, almost religiously, every night since they'd begun their excursion. When Zack had asked about it, Angeal had simply replied that it was important to record your thoughts about the events of the day and what occurred during missions – it was a useful thing to be able to go back and reflect on those thoughts, and it proved to be a very calming task.

Zack didn't know whether he'd have the patience for what he thought was such a tedious thing, but now he took comfort in the familiar sight. Reassured, he laid back down.

The wind bellowed and gusted through the trees.

… Sitting back up again, he coughed into his hand to clear his throat.

"Hey, Angeal …"

"… Hmm …?" His mentor continued to write.

Zack hesitated. Then he blurted out what was on his mind. "Will you tell me a story?" He tried to make it sound like he was simply too excited to go to sleep, because of course he wasn't _afraid_.

Angeal glanced up at him for an instant, in passing, but went back to his journal. After several moments, Zack began to fear that Angeal was simply going to ignore him. His grin started to fade.

Finally, Angeal replied. "Will you go to sleep, if I do?"

Exuberantly, Zack nodded. "Yeah, of course!"

A sigh. "All right. Just a moment."

With a mental cheer, Zack hauled up his sleeping bag, and, Mochi the Behemoth wedged underneath one arm, quickly shuffled around the fire and the eggs to plunk himself down beside his mentor. There was much shuffling and rearranging, as he busily wrapped his now unfolded sleeping bag around him, then was still.

Angeal paused, slowly raising his head from his writing and glancing down at the boy with a raised eyebrow, expression clearly wondering, 'What in the _world_ are you _doing_?'

Zack just gazed back up at him, violet eyes wide and innocent.

"… Nevermind. I don't even want to know." There was another sigh, and Angeal went back to the journal, finishing his thoughts within the next few moments.

Entry complete, he capped the pen and folded it inside the book, setting both to the side. "… Now, which story would you like to hear?" He'd told Zack numerous stories already, either those he'd volunteered, or those the Third had managed to wheedle out of him, and he'd need to take some time to come up with another, if Zack wanted a new one.

Thankfully, he didn't. "Ummm … one about you and the General in Wutai." Zack's eyes sparkled as he mentioned ShinRa's greatest First Class.

Angeal grunted. Zack, like most of the young SOLDIERs, regarded Sephiroth as a hero. He'd seen the promotional poster above the boy's bed in the dorm rooms; thankfully, Zack wasn't as obnoxious in his idolization of the man as many of the others were. "Me and Sephiroth in Wutai. Hmm." The events Zack referred to had occurred early on in the war against the country, when the Firsts had been sent in on the initial advances to probe the strength of the enemy forces. Much of it was still glorified in the retellings in news stories, and even movies now, and Zack had yet to learn of the ferocious reality of war. A part of Angeal wished that it could always be this way, that this young student, who Angeal was just beginning to come to know, would remain a student forever. He was too innocent, too naïve, too … full of life, to be brought down by the horrors of reality.

And so his stories, in a guilty bid to mask the truth just a little longer, glossed over the details. He could elaborate on them, later, when Zack was ready.

He began to relate the tale, voice deep and even and quiet, more than enough in the still of the night. It was a different story depending on the angle from which it was told, and Angeal chose to tell it as a story of high danger and heroics, of close calls and of ShinRa's finest winning the day.

About halfway through, however, he felt a light pressure on his arm, and glanced down to see Zack slumped against him, chest gently rising and falling in slumber. He raised an eyebrow in surprise, halted min-sentence. Apparently, the boy had nodded off.

For a moment, amusement warred with irritation at having his story interrupted; after all, Zack was the one who had asked for it. What was he supposed to do with him now?

But his eyes softened at the peaceful expression his student wore, and the desire to send him back to his spot across the fire faded. With a resigned sigh, he carefully brought his arm around Zack's shoulders to make it more comfortable for both of them, set a Mochi in danger of falling to the ground back into his student's lap, and settled back against the log.

He was asleep within a few minutes.

* * *

><p><strong>End Part II<strong>


	3. Readjustment

**Author's Notes: **Thanks to some input from NoBuddy-else and LuckyLadybug, I have expanded upon some of Angeal's musings in this chapter to further explain some of his thoughts back in Chapter 1. I try to avoid fixing chapters that have already been posted, so this is my after-the-fact fix to magically make everything better. Yes, I am one of those people. What? Don't judge me. :P

Also, more nerdiness abounds, this time with materia. In my stories, I am combining the materia from both Crisis Core and the original game, and settling on a universal method of classification for both. FYI, there is no Affliction type, but after seeing certain materia in the CC guidebook classified simply as Magic, I was all like LOLThat'sLame, and invented something more descriptive. So there. XD You'll see what I mean later in this chapter.

I've received several helpful comments about the idea of birds rejecting eggs that have been handled by humans because of the human scent left on the eggs, and that this might be something to consider when trying to keep things realistic for the dragon eggs. In doing some research, I have discovered, much to my surprise, that this idea is a myth - it is completely false. Most birds do not have a good sense of smell, so whether their eggs have been handled by humans, or anything else, is completely irrelevant. The scent will not make a bird abandon its young. However, the _visual disturbance_ of the eggs - not the smell - may indicate to the birds that a predator is in the area, which may cause birds to find a safer place to nest. For more info, check out this Scientific American article: www (dot) scientificamerican (dot) com/article (dot) cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-birds-abandon-young-at-human-touch .

Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Part III: Readjustment<strong>

Angeal awoke slightly groggier than usual, the action of the day before having taken its toll on him. His arm tightened automatically on something his brain told him was supposed to be snuggled against his side, only to close on thin air. Frowning, he cracked an eye open. The open sleeping bag beside him lay empty, aside from the ragged purple fluff that was Mochi. Zack was gone.

_Blasted boy's never where you expect him to be …_

With an irritable grumble – he was usually more of a morning person – Angeal sat up to cast his gaze about the clearing. … Ah! There he was.

Zack was crouched near the eggs, arms wrapped around his knees, and staring at them intently. He'd cleared his clothing from the top of the feather/egg pile; the early morning sun caught the smooth surfaces of the dappled shells peeking through the yellow fluff, making them glisten. Zack clutched a blackened stick in one hand, presumably used to stir up the fire. His hair stuck up in a mass of unruly black spikes around his head, like the crooked halo of some mischievous angel, clearly still mussed from sleep.

Angeal considered his student for a moment, not for the last time wondering if he'd made the right decision in allowing Zack to rescue the eggs. He'd been struggling with his decisions more often than he was accustomed to, lately … and all because of Zack.

He wanted to do right by his student, to help Zack accomplish his dreams and become the best SOLDIER he could possibly be … perhaps to become the hero he often said he wanted to be … and with his own knowledge and experience, Angeal had been sure it would not be that difficult. Train, keep Zack in line, cultivate a strong sense of honor in the boy … challenging, yes, but a path Angeal had expected would be clear to him.

But he was beginning to find, too frequently, that he was not at all as certain in his decisions as he'd hoped to be … as he was _used_ to being.

He thought back to the moment he'd given in and decided against sending Zack back to Midgar. Unlike the recent choice about the dragon eggs, he was confident – _now_ – that he'd made the right choice in letting Zack face the dragon. But then …

He'd been frightened. Zack's close call with the dragon had left him unnerved and unsure, something he was most definitely _not_ familiar with. Even still, he could remember the visions passing through his mind of him being just a hair too slow and the Green Dragon plowing straight through his student. It had caused him to question everything, wonder if he'd been making the right decisions up until that point. It had made him think that it would be far better to play it safe, to send Zack back to Midgar, where Angeal wouldn't have to worry about uncontrollable elements endangering the boy.

It wasn't until Zack's unexpected, vehement protest that Angeal remembered that field training, by its very nature, was _supposed_ to be dangerous. It was meant to test SOLDIERs in an environment that was unpredictable – _reality_. There were going to be risks, there were going to be injuries and close calls, there were going to be moments when the SOLDIERs were pushed to their limits. It was Angeal's presence, as an experienced First, and their materia, that would ensure that Zack wasn't killed outright.

In short, it wasn't Zack's own lack of abilities or fear that was behind Angeal's hesitance, but _his own fears_. Zack was a SOLDIER Third, fully capable of taking on a Green Dragon, with Angeal's aid. But Angeal's caution had almost led him to sheltering the boy, which would have been far more detrimental than allowing him to take a few spills on his own.

Angeal had always had a certain cautiousness to his nature, if only because he was patient and recklessness only led to mistakes. But, for all that, he was _confident_.

This … this was a type of caution he didn't like, stemming from a hesitance that was foreign to him.

This … He sighed. This was something he would have to address later, before Zack began to wonder at his uncharacteristic moodiness. He returned his attention to the boy. Thankfully, he hadn't moved from his position watching the eggs. Angeal raised an eyebrow. Did he intend to watch them until they hatched, or was he attempting to make it occur by simple force of will? He was reminded of the old adage of watching water boil.

"Zack." Angeal cleared his throat to smooth some of the roughness of sleep from his voice. "What are you doing?"

Startled, Zack looked up. He grinned. "Oh, hey, Angeal! Look, the eggs are doing great!" His hands passed over each of them, pausing only a moment on one, where the ghost of a frown crossed his face. It was gone as soon as Angeal blinked. "They still feel warm like before, so that must mean they're doing good, right? I've decided to name them. Look." He settled to the ground, cross-legged. "This one's Kiran, Ness, Herk," he pointed to each one in turn, "and Seph."

Angeal raised an eyebrow at the last name. "Seph?"

Zack nodded cheerfully. "Yep! I figured that I gotta have at least one awesome name for something as awesome as a dragon, and nothin's better than Sephiroth! But it's only a mini Sephiroth right now, so his name's Seph."

Angeal blinked slowly at Zack's logic. "… Shouldn't you at least wait until they hatch before you name them?" he finally asked.

The Third rolled his eyes. "Then how would we know which one was which? _Honestly_, Angeal." His tone was that of a typical teenager, exasperated at the silly comment of a dense parent.

Angeal eyed the eggs, quite certain that there was no way to tell them apart, with or without the names, but wisely refrained from saying so. Finally shrugging, he set about fixing them a quick breakfast.

Afterward, he directed Zack to pack up the eggs, while he busied himself with something else, spreading out a spare tarp on the ground and hunting around the clearing for stones to pile on it. Zack glanced up from his task, curious.

"… What are you doing?"

There was a smirk. "You'll find out."

Zack cocked his head, wondering at a funny glint he thought he saw in his mentor's eyes, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Shrugging, he dismissed it, and went back to stuffing feathers around the eggs.

* * *

><p>Zack wished he had the sense to pay more attention to his feelings.<p>

"Name all five divisions of materia and their purpose."

"Umm …" Zack took a deep breath. "Magic – attack, healing, and defense spells; Command – control your opponent or enhance physical attacks … Support … uh, supports … attacks. And defense." He struggled up the hill, the additional weight on his back making it difficult to think. "… Summon … is for summoning … and … and …" How many was that? Five? Four? Yeah, that was four. The last one was … "Um … Independent! Yeah, it uh, acts on its own without having to be activated. A lot of it affects your personal, uh … personal stats." He grinned, having completed the answer.

Angeal grunted. "Personal stats"? Zack had clearly been playing too many computer games. "Good enough. What are the nine types of Magic materia?"

Ah, he knew this one! "Fire, Lightning, Ice … Heal, Defense, Drain … Gravity … and Ultimate!"

"Wrong. You missed Affliction. Thirty pushups."

_What!_ No, he totally got them all … Mentally, he counted. … Six, seven, eight … _eight?_ Dang it! He groaned, letting the weight he was carrying take him to his knees. "What the heck is _Affliction_?"

"Materia that affects the health or movement of an enemy, such as Poison, Silence, Stop, or Death. Not to be confused with Drain magic." Angeal watched as Zack dragged his limbs into the pushup position and began counting the repetitions. After a moment, he posed another question. "Can materia contain more than one type of magic?"

"Ummm … No."

"Wrong again. Thirty-five pushups when you finish those."

Zack gave a plaintive whine. "But _Angeal_ …!"

"Would you like me to make it forty?"

There was a small measure of grumbling, but Zack managed to refrain from commenting.

Angeal smirked, then continued with an explanation. "Although most materia confine themselves to a single type, there are actually several that allow magic of more than one. The Contain and Dark materias are excellent examples of this, as well as Destruct, though it is debatable whether all of Destruct's spells could be classified simply as Affliction. Additionally, a few of the Ultimate materia are also elemental types."

"Ultimate … are elemental …" Zack breathed to himself, in rhythm with the exercise. Man, materia were confusing!

Angeal watched his student pump his arms. Strapped to Zack's back was what looked like a very uncomfortable, lumpy pack filled with heavy rocks, which he was making the Third haul to their destination. He'd finally settled on this method as Zack's punishment for erecting a Barrier between them, choosing to quiz him along the way on the many ins and outs of the magical stones Zack seemed so keen on using. And a little encouragement to remember the correct answer – the pushups – never hurt.

Finally finished with both sets, Zack wearily struggled to his feet. Angeal strode briskly on ahead.

"Come along, Zack. Stop dawdling."

The Third huffed pathetically and picked up his feet to follow along.

"Now. During which situation would you _not_ want to use a Lightning materia, but either Fire or Ice would be perfectly acceptable?"

* * *

><p>By the time they quit for the day, Zack could barely move. His exhausted mind was sure he was sorer than he'd ever been, Basic Training and SOLDIER exams combined.<p>

Angeal had stopped two hours ago at the edge of a forest, which Zack hadn't even had the time to be grateful for. As soon as he'd ditched the stony pack, Angeal had come at him with a sword, and he'd found himself scrambling to mount a defense.

He didn't think Angeal had ever gone so hard on him before.

Barely keeping up with the strikes, and unable to even attempt an attack of his own, he'd still been grilled with questions about materia. By that point, he'd had so many fragments of materia fact rattling around in his head that he could barely think straight, let alone form a coherent answer, _let alone_ do so while he was struggling with all his effort to keep from being skewered on his mentor's blade. Each wrong answer was met with a swipe to the legs, too quick for him to avoid, that sent him to the ground and scrambling to get back to his feet, and if he took too long to answer, his own sword was somehow sent flying, and him racing after it before Angeal could whap him with the flat of his blade.

It finally ended when, desperation mounting, he'd succeeded for the first time in detecting a swipe to his legs, and made an attempt to leap over it. But, muscles exhausted and moving too slowly, he only succeeded in tripping himself, sprawling into the dirt.

That was the first hour.

The second hour was Angeal's idea of a "cool-down": practicing an endless array of kata, over and over, until Zack got it perfect. If he thought his sword was heavy when they began, he could barely lift it by the time they finished. Arms trembling, legs like jelly, there finally came a point where, try as he might, he simply could not bring the drooping sword point up any more. Angeal, at last taking pity on him, concluded the exercises there. Relieved, Zack fell to his knees, and raised a shaking hand to wipe the sweat from his eyes.

The First tossed him a canteen, which Zack didn't even try to catch, and turned away to set up the campsite, a pleased expression on his face. He wasn't even breathing hard.

"Get yourself cleaned up; then we'll have dinner."

Zack glowered at his back. What did he look so smug about? Running a Third into the ground? In a moment of childish impulse, Zack stuck his tongue out.

Without even turning around, Angeal waved a finger in the air. "I saw that."

Zack's mouth turned down in a pout. Then he sighed, picking up the canteen and unscrewing the cap for a long drink. He couldn't really be that mad at his mentor … he really had deserved it, defying the man with a Barrier like that – he'd surprised himself. _Stupid impulses._ And it wasn't like it was a wasted day of training, either …

_Oh, no. Today was good enough for_ three _days of training._

Zack's version of cleanup was upending the rest of the canteen over his head. Then he rose and made his way to the campfire on unsteady legs, still breathing heavily. Water from his now soaked hair trickled down the back of his neck. Grabbing his pack from the pile Angeal had left – the First had carried all their gear, plus the eggs, in order to allow Zack to haul rocks, how thoughtful – he removed his sleeping roll, sloppily dragged it out, and succeeded in unrolling it all of halfway before promptly collapsing onto it and burying his face in the still rolled-up lump of material.

"Never moving … ever again," he mumbled into it.

Somewhere to his side, he could hear Angeal's chuckle.

Zack soon faded into a blissful state of half sleep, half awareness, and couldn't be bothered to rise, even for the enticing smell of whatever it was Angeal was cooking. He half-heartedly tried to convince himself to get up, but the only answer he received from his body was a firm _No_.

He was okay with that.

Perhaps half an hour later, the grumbling from his stomach finally pulled him back to wakefulness, and he resentfully rolled over to see what might be left of dinner. Angeal was writing in his journal again, but placed beside Zack's sleeping bag was a thermos. Unsteady hands reached for it, complaining at having to unscrew the lid, and he downed the whole thing – it was delicious, whatever it was – mumbled a thanks to his mentor, and promptly face-planted back into his sleeping bag.

"… Zack, at least remove your boots before you go to sleep."

There was only an answering mumble, which had a distinct _I-don't-care-enough-to-move_ tone.

Zack heard his mentor's boots clomp across to him, before nudging him in the side. "For Gaia's sake, then, unroll your sleeping bag and sleep in it properly."

Another protesting moan.

There was a sigh. Then his mentor dropped a spare blanket on him before heading back to his own place beside the fire.

Zack couldn't help but grin into his bag, before drifting off to sweet oblivion.

* * *

><p>There was a long, plaintive groan. "I can't move, Angeal."<p>

"Of course you can. You're a SOLDIER."

"… You're supposed to feel sorry for me."

"Get up and get your own breakfast. I'm not bringing it to you."

Zack made another pathetic sound, then slowly pushed himself to his feet, stumbling away from his bed and over to the pot suspended above the fire.

Gaia, he had no idea it was possible to get this stiff. He now firmly believed that mornings after a workout were downright _rotten_, a despicable gift from Hades himself. His thighs and calves ached, protesting at even the mundane task of walking. His lower back was sore, his shoulders stiff and painful, and his arms seemed almost disconnected from the rest of him – forearms so stiff that he had to concentrate extra just to get them to move properly and not clumsily drop something or knock something over.

When he reached the pot, Angeal cleared his throat.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Zack sullenly craned his neck to look back at him, only to see Angeal holding out a dish and spoon. The Third eyed the additional distance he'd have to cross to get there and back again, and glared at the knowing, and amused, light in Angeal's eyes. With a grumble, he managed his way over and snatched the plate, then went back to the fire to spoon out the thick stew, thankfully succeeding in not dropping either the dish or the spoon.

His mood definitely improved after eating, even if the stiffness hadn't left. Angeal had taken pity on him and let him sleep late after the ordeal of the day before – it looked to be almost noon – and Zack had spent several minutes reveling in it before he made the effort to get up for the day. After his second helping of the stew, he was back to his energetic self, filling the morning stillness with animated chatter.

"Isn't there a materia that could just make sore muscles go away?"

"Are you injured?"

"… No …"

"Then no."

Zack rolled his eyes. "But wouldn't it _work_? Like if I used a Restore, or something?"

"Zack, Restore only works on actual injuries. _Technically_, I suppose it would repair the micro-tears in muscle fiber, but it would also defeat the entire purpose of your workout, which is to build muscle. Restore only 'fixes' what is there. It cannot create what is _not_ there."

"… Oh. Man, that sucks. … What if a guy loses an arm, or something?"

Angeal grunted. "Then he'd better find the arm if he wishes it to be re-attached. Stop being morbid."

Zack rolled his eyes a second time. "I'm not being morbid! I'm just wondering."

Angeal chuckled. "If it is any consolation, the Mako in your system will help you recover faster."

"How fast?"

"Oh … a day or two, at the most." Zack grumbled a response about it not being _that_ much faster, while Angeal approached a second pot over the fire that had been steaming for a while, gave it a quick stir, and poured the contents into a mug. "Here … drink this." He presented it to Zack.

The boy sniffed it curiously. "What is it?"

"Banora White Tea."

"_Tea?_ I don't drink _tea_." He pushed it back, nose wrinkling in disdain. "I'll stick with water."

His mentor made no move to take it. "Are you sure? Banora Tea has some rather effective pain-relieving properties."

Zack eyed his mentor doubtfully, then turned his gaze onto the pale amber liquid in the mug. He frowned at it, watching a leaf and some spices swirl around the bottom. After a moment, he blew on it, then brought the mug to his mouth and took a hesitant sip. The burning liquid stung his tongue; he grimaced. But then he registered the flavor, and his eyes widened in surprise, glancing up at Angeal.

"This is … really good!"

Angeal smiled, pleased. "Of course. It's made with Banora Whites, after all."

Zack took another sip. It was surprisingly flavorful – sweet and refreshing, with hints of cinnamon, honey, and mint, not at all like the steamy, watery teas his mother would make. Zack hummed in approval, sitting down near the fire. He could feel himself relaxing, the warmth from the mug spreading into his hands, and cast his gaze over the eggs nestled in the chocobo feathers nearby.

"… What do baby dragons look like?"

Angeal shrugged. "Like lizards with wings, I would imagine."

"Haven't you ever seen one?"

"No. They're not a common sight because their parents guard them so well, and no one typically goes out searching for dragons."

"Oh. … Can they fly?"

"I doubt it."

"What do they eat?"

"Meat, most likely."

"Can they hunt on their own?"

"Hm. I'm not sure …"

"Do they-"

"Zack," Angeal interrupted, somewhat impatiently. "Your guess is as good as mine. I do not know anything about baby dragons. You'll find out about them if they hatch."

"… Well, when do you think they'll-"

Angeal silenced him with a Look. Zack huffed and went back to drinking his tea.

A short time later, after the tea was downed and Zack's muscles had loosened up enough for him to do some stretches and get moving again with his old enthusiasm, they set about packing up. Zack once again started putting the eggs away.

He was in the process of setting the third egg into Angeal's pack, when a vibration shot through his fingers. He jerked in surprise and nearly dropped the fragile object. The egg vibrated again.

Slowly, he lifted the egg from the pack, staring wide-eyed at it. "A-Angeal …"

There was a third vibration as Angeal looked questioningly at him.

"I … think it's going to hatch!"

A faint chirp came from the egg, and Zack hurriedly set it down. As if in reply, an answering chirp came from the eggs already in the first pack. Quickly, Zack unzipped it and took them out, setting them all upon the pile of chocobo down he hadn't yet used for packing. They, too, began vibrating sporadically.

Surprised, and rather apprehensive, Angeal went over to kneel beside his student.

Zack spared him an excited glance. "Can you hear them? They're talking to each other!"

Indeed, they sure seemed to be. Whenever one egg chirped, the others would appear to answer in a chorus. The shaking became stronger, the eggs starting to knock gently against each other. Zack watched, fascinated.

Suddenly, one tipped completely over, rolling a short distance from the others. An insistent, high-pitched yapping began coming from this one.

Shooting Angeal a questioning glance, Zack carefully picked up the egg to set it back with the others. After a moment of hesitation, he impulsively tapped it twice with a fingernail.

The egg went silent. Then it tapped back, ever so lightly. A thrilled grin spread across Zack's face. The egg tapped again, a bit stronger, prompting Zack to tap back. The egg's tapping quickly became more insistent, a rapid rapping that became violent enough to rock the egg back and forth. The other eggs began to emulate the first one.

Suddenly, there was a sharp crack – a line had split down the side of the first egg. Another crack bisected the line, and a third snapped a fragment of the shell right off. Zack could hardly keep from bouncing in excitement.

"It's hatching!"

The tip of a dark-colored nose could be seen through the gap in the shell. The creature inside paused, nostrils flaring as it caught its first scent of the outside world. Then it retreated back inside and was still.

Zack blinked. Uncertainly, he scooted closer to the egg to peer inside the small space. Abruptly, the nose returned, nudging harshly at the edges of the crack in a bid to widen it; impatient warbling came from inside. The creature attacked the crack with so much gusto, in fact, that it fell over once again. With single-minded intensity, it ignored the fall, continuing to jam its head through the fragmenting opening. After the head came the neck, where the creature became stuck. There was much distressed chirping and calling, and with frantic scrabbling from what must have been the creature's claws from the inside, the entire side of the shell finally broke away, freeing the animal entirely. It promptly collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, eyes shut, entire body heaving with the force of its labored breathing.

Utterly in awe of the little creature, Zack inched closer, even as the other eggs were in the throes of their own hatching frenzy. It was tiny for a dragon, maybe the size of a small cat. Its head was about the size of Zack's own fist, proportioned slightly large. Its snout was short, and though its eyes were closed, they also looked large for the small face. A tiny little horn was perched on the tip of its nose, and little ear flaps folded down to hug the corners of its head, much like a newborn puppy's. Wings that looked to be not much larger than one of Angeal's hands lay crumpled on the ground, beside a round belly, while a small tail trailed back into the shell. Tiny claws on miniature hands and feet curled limply against the dirt.

"Awww. He's so _cute_!"

The little dragon was a very dark color, either black or dark green, but it was difficult to tell because the entire creature was covered with what looked like a thin layer of pale, silver-gray fuzz. Tentatively, Zack reached out to touch it. His eyes widened.

"It's soft!" Ever so gently, he stroked the side of the dragon's belly. He'd expected hard scales, but, through the downy fuzz, the dragon seemed covered in a smooth, yet slightly pebbly, skin, equally as soft as a kitten's or puppy's. When Zack transferred a finger to the creature's head, the eyes suddenly snapped open. He froze.

The eyes were an incredible, iridescent green, slitted by a dark pupil. They pinned Zack for all of five seconds, before the creature's gaze flicked up to the boy's finger, and the dragon promptly tried to take a bite out of it.

Zack jerked back. "Hey!"

The dragon yipped loudly at him in response, and was immediately distracted by answering chirps from its fellow hatchlings. Craning its neck around to search for the noise with a wide-eyed, incredulous stare, it ended up twisting so much that it unbalanced and toppled over onto its back.

Zack laughed. "Serves you right!"

The little dragon flailed its wings in an attempt to right itself, but to no avail. After a quick moment, it tuckered itself out and fell limp. Zack took pity on it. Before it could snap at his fingers again, he scooped it up and set it with the others. A renewed chorus of chirping indicated their sudden interest and curious investigation of each other.

In addition to the black dragon, there was one that was clearly a deep green, with wide, sky blue eyes, and a third that was also green, but a pale, silvery shade. It had eyes of a burnished gold. All were covered in the same grayish fuzz. Almost beside himself with delight, Zack watched them as they clambered about with the jerky movements of the young, chirping, and mouthing the shell fragments and each other. Finally unable to resist any longer, he picked up the black one again.

Angeal watched, partly in amusement, and partly in wonder. It was true, he hadn't wanted the eggs to hatch. Taking care of a baby _anything_ was a handful; his own "baby SOLDIER", as Genesis liked to call the Thirds, was proving a challenge just to keep in line. He could only imagine that a group of baby dragons would be ten times worse, and a Zack added to the mix was bound to make things unpredictable.

Yet, he'd always had a soft spot for young, cute, and innocent things. And the baby dragons were as adorable as anything he'd ever seen. The clumsy way they moved around, oblivious to anything but their immediate surroundings, tugged on his heart. So like a small litter of puppies! And so animated for something newly hatched, which was surprising, but made sense for a wild creature like this. But Angeal had had experience with young creatures before, and knew that they would rapidly tire themselves out. Indeed, the little black one that Zack had picked up, originally impatient to get back to its littermates, had discovered just how warm it was in Zack's arms and had snuggled up next to his stomach. The other two had finally fallen over themselves in disarray, and zonked out on the spot, perfectly comfortable in the awkward positions.

When Zack looked up at him, the widest smile shining in his eyes, practically bubbling over with delight, he couldn't help but smile in reply. He wished he had his camera, but it would have to wait – he didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Can you _believe_ it, Angeal?" Zack tried to keep his voice low to not disturb the exhausted dragons, but mostly failed. "Baby dragons!" There wasn't anything the boy could say to possibly express all of his joy. Instead, he decided to introduce them. "This one's Seph." He nodded at the one in his arms. "Doesn't he look just like him?" Zack was thrilled, but Angeal was skeptical of the resemblance, and wasn't sure the real "Seph" would appreciate it. The boy glanced up at the others, wanting to get up and point them out, but choosing to stay put with Seph. "The dark green one is Ness. And the light green one is Kiran!"

Angeal found himself reaching over to gently stroke the bridge of Kiran's nose. As Zack had been, he was also surprised at the soft feel of both the down and the skin beneath it. The little dragon yawned without opening its eyes, exposing a little pink tongue, and snuggled deeper into the side of its companion.

Zack continued, "And Herk is … um …" He frowned. Where was Herk? Funny, he couldn't recall what the little dragon had looked like … _Let's see, there's Seph, Kiran, Ness … and Herk is …_

Zack's eyes suddenly alighted on the fourth egg off to the side, which, entirely distracted by the other dragons, he never realized hadn't hatched. His eyes widened. "Herk?" Quickly but gently setting the dragon he held down, inadvertently rousing it from its slumber, he stood and moved around to the last egg. The little dragon blinked sleepily, then tottered along behind him, on paws too large for it.

The last egg was still. Zack crouched beside it. "Why isn't it hatching, Angeal?" Confusion flooded his voice. He laid his hands on the egg, then jerked in surprise. "It's cold!" An alarmed glance was shot in his mentor's direction, and then the boy was quickly scooting the egg close to the fire, piling additional feathers around it. "Help me, Angeal, we gotta do something!"

The First's heart sank, watching Zack's frantic efforts, even as he got up to check the egg himself. It was indeed cold to the touch, the warmth and sense of life that had belonged to the others having abandoned it. "… Zack …"

"There's something wrong with it! _What's wrong with it?_"

Angeal looked at his student helplessly; the boy hovered over the egg, staring at it intently, willing it to be alright. "Zack … sometimes these things happen."

Zack spared him a glance. "W-What do you mean?"

Angeal sighed, checked the egg again. There was no doubt about it – sometime between the time they had found it and now, the egg had died. "… Not every young animal survives in the wilderness, Zack. Many don't even survive long enough to be born. This is just-"

"No! _No!_ I don't believe you!" Zack turned his full attention back to the egg. "C'mon, Herk. _Come on._ Don't listen to him!" He desperately urged the egg to hatch. "I _know_ you're in there!" _Just gotta warm him up a bit, is all!_

Several tense moments passed.

Abruptly, Zack couldn't stand it any longer. Herk just needed some help getting out of his shell, that was all! He seized the egg, preparing to knock it against the ground and break the shell.

Quickly, Angeal grabbed his student around the waist with one arm, separating him from the egg with the other. "Stop it, Zack. That's enough." The last thing the young Third needed to see was the lifeless form of a baby dragon broken from its shell.

Zack squawked. "Angeal! Give it back!" Desperate fingers reached for the egg, but Angeal had already set it to the side and pulled the boy away. "_Angeal!_" He struggled against his mentor's hold, but to no avail.

"It's over, Zack," his mentor said, sadly. "There's nothing you can do. The dragon's gone."

"_No!_" Zack wailed, redoubling his efforts. "It's not true! He's in there, Angeal, he just needs help getting out!"

"Zack, _please_." The First's heart broke at the anguish in Zack's voice. "The egg is _dead_. It was, long before the others began hatching." Though Zack had probably overlooked it, the egg had not joined in with the others when they had started chirping and rocking back and forth. "The dragon is gone."

"No …" After one last struggle, Zack finally slumped into his mentor's arms, gazing at the egg in grief. "It's _not_. It just needs help, don't you see?" he implored. But the protest was weak. His eyes clouded with unshed tears; he sniffed, roughly wiping them away. "It just needs _help_." His voice cracked on the last word.

Angeal didn't reply, continuing to hold his student as the boy came to terms with the situation.

"… Did I do something _wrong_, Angeal?" he finally asked, voice plaintive and quiet.

"Wrong?" Angeal was surprised. "Why in the world would you think that?" He tightened his arms around the boy.

"… Maybe I did something to kill it. I mean, I'm the one that took it from the nest … Maybe I didn't keep it warm enough, or maybe I knocked it around too hard, or carried it wrong, or …"

"Don't be ridiculous," the First scolded, gently. "The egg would have died anyway, if you hadn't done anything – they all would have. The only reason any of them are alive is because of you. You have three _living baby dragons_ … Who else can say that? You didn't do anything wrong. This is simply the way of nature." Angeal shook his head sadly. "Not everything survives."

Zack sniffed again, finally nodding. He watched the firelight play against the shell of the last egg, lying cold and abandoned on the ground.

The little black dragon watched all of this with a confused, sleepy expression. Once the commotion had finally died down, it yawned, wobbled over to Zack, and clambered into his lap. Taking the boy's hand in its little mouth, it curled up, sighed in contentment, and promptly went to sleep. Zack couldn't help a small, choked sound of laughter, even as the sting had yet to fade from his eyes.

* * *

><p>Things certainly changed once the dragons awoke. If there was any hope that Angeal and his student would be able to continue with their routine thus far, there was about to be some serious disappointment.<p>

The hatching of the dragons had delayed their plans for leaving that morning by several hours. In fact, they'd taken so long to wake up again that Angeal had resigned to camping there another night. Not wanting to be mobbed by hungry young dragons when they woke up, and certain that their food stores would not last long if divided among them all, he went out on a hunt in the late afternoon for some fresh meat. Of course, he really didn't know whether the dragons were ready to eat meat right away after hatching, or if they were supposed to be fed some kind of milk instead. But they didn't have access to any milk, and, upon surmising that the dragons were similar enough to other species born from eggs, he was reasonably sure that they would be able to process real food straight from the shell. The black one's tendency to chomp on Zack's fingers was also a good clue.

When he returned, hauling back the carcass of a replicon, the dragons had awoken and mobbed Zack, searching for food. They were in a pile on the ground, Zack laughing and protesting at the same time, trying to free one from his hair that was gnawing on several spikes. Another was at his feet, unsuccessfully chewing on the toe of Zack's SOLDIER-issue boot – those things were designed to take much worse abuse – and the third was currently tearing apart a package of jerky.

"Angeal!" Zack called, when he saw his mentor. "Help me!" He dissolved into a fit of giggles when the dragon in his hair started trying to eat the collar of his shirt.

The First shook his head in amusement, dumping the replicon to one side of the campsite. The loud _whump_ startled the dragons, and they looked up as one, matching curious expressions on each. Then the two on the ground began toddling over. When the one in Zack's hair noticed that its littermates were abandoning it, it squealed loudly and attempted to follow. Zack freed it and set it down; it took off as fast as its clumsy legs could go.

Zack straightened his uniform, then went over himself. "How do we feed them? Don't we need to skin it and slice the meat off?"

Angeal nodded. "I imagine so. I don't know how much they need to eat, but there should be enough for you and I to fix up some roast replicon ourselves, with plenty left over. Hopefully, it won't take the dragons long to get the idea of how to eat …"

The First trailed off, as the dragons, as one, promptly attacked the giant bird with ferocious baby growls, ripping feathers off and sending them flying in all directions. Apparently, they learned quickly.

After a moment, however, it appeared that they had yet to get past the thick mass of feathers hiding the meat. The initial drive to attack soon faded as they became distracted by the wonder of the soft covering. One dragon seized a clump and paraded off with it; the others, quickly noticing the absence of their companion, found him and immediately took off to ambush him and steal his prize.

Angeal and Zack shared an amused glance. "… Guess we'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way …" the Third commented.

His mentor agreed. A few minutes later saw a leg of the bird severed, and Angeal walking it toward the fire that Zack was building up.

"We'll take this for ourselves; if they decide they're hungry enough to want some, we'll cut extra later."

However, as soon as it was said, the First found himself confronted by a mass of snarling baby dragon. Apparently drawn by the scent of fresh-cut meat, they'd abandoned their game. Two of them leapt, sinking tiny little teeth into the end of the bird leg, while the third attacked Angeal's own leg.

"Hey! You'll get some. Give me a minute!" He tried to gently shake the one off of his trousers, but it was no use. The single-mindedness of the little beasts was rather overwhelming. "Zack, give me a hand!"

Zack laughed at him instead. "Just give it to 'em, Angeal! We'll get our own!"

Grumbling, the First decided that was probably the easiest course of action, and dropped the leg. The little dragon attacking his pants promptly let go and turned his attention to the meat. Gravitating to the severed end of the leg, they soon began tearing into the muscle, swallowing chunks whole, feathers and all.

Shaking his head, Angeal went back to cut some additional steaks for him and Zack, throwing them on the fire. Thankfully, the dragons were too absorbed in their own meal to worry about the SOLDIERs'.

"Looks like teaching them to eat was easier than we thought!" Zack quipped.

Angeal just grunted in reply.

* * *

><p>The First was surprised at how much the little dragons ate. Though small, they downed about half the meat on the replicon leg – impressive, considering the size of the bird. Thankfully, full bellies helped the dragons to sleep soundly through the night. In the morning, they awoke ravenous again, and finished off the rest of the leg, plus a portion of the bird's innards.<p>

Harvesting as much meat from the bird as they could carry, the two SOLDIERs and three little dragons set out for the first time together. Angeal had fashioned a pair of slings from the tarp Zack had previously used to haul rocks with, which they used to carry the sleepy creatures with relative ease. Although they had the three dragons to contend with, they no longer had to worry about the bulk of the eggs and feathers, making their load that much easier to carry. With packs and swords slung across their backs, the slings fit neatly, low to the side of the waist. It was a little cumbersome, but the best they could do. Hopefully, the little dragons would be capable of walking distances soon; as it was, Angeal was thankful they didn't need to deal with the excitable little creatures constantly – Zack was often enough of a handful for him.

After burying the poor little egg that had refused to hatch, and Zack bidding Herk a sad farewell, they left the campsite. With Zack insisting to carry two of the dragons in his sling, only because all three wouldn't fit, they began their journey up the mountains, snow-capped peaks looming in the far distance.

Angeal had no intention of taking them high enough in elevation to encounter snow. But somewhere, deep into the range, was where he hoped to find another dragon. Whether the dragon could somehow be convinced to accept the care of three orphans was another matter entirely.

* * *

><p><strong>End Part III<strong>


	4. Review

**Author's Note:** This chapter is a bit of an experiment, told from Angeal's point of view. I wanted a way to summarize and describe events that occurred on their journey, without simply having a bunch of unrelated scenes, and also to help move the story along without taking an extraordinary amount of time to do it. Hopefully it worked - let me know what you think!

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><p><strong>Part IV: Review<strong>

_Caring for baby dragons is a unique experience. One might think that prior knowledge in raising puppies, kittens, or other pets would make one prepared for such an occurrence, but there really is nothing like it. I'm not sure that's a good thing._

_The night of the dragon hatching, Zack, perhaps still feeling down about the egg that didn't make it, chose to sleep curled up with the dragons – to keep them warm, he said. Against my better judgment, I allowed him to do it. I didn't have the heart to keep them separated. Perhaps I should have – perhaps it would make things easier come the future, when we have to send them away, one way or another. But I failed. I regret that I will likely fail in many more things before this is over._

_But they were cute together, the little dragons snuggled up with my student. They fell asleep quickly – must be a trademark of the young. At that moment, I felt privileged … privileged to have been given the opportunity to care for something as rare and special as baby dragons – and I pray that they do not let Zack down – and privileged to have the chance to mentor a student as caring, honest, and talented as Zack._

_I had often doubted my decision to participate in the mentor program. Truthfully, I had many other obligations, numerous other things I could be doing. Neither Genesis nor Sephiroth had the time for it, or, perhaps, the patience; I was the anomaly. Really, I should have busied myself with training, missions, helping Sephiroth run SOLDIER under the Director. The mentor program was a huge commitment, years worth of obligation, something that I would need to devote nearly all my time to. It would be a drastic change in what I was used to. For that reason, I had never pledged myself to it before – though I had certainly entertained the thought – why should I do so now?_

_I still cannot truthfully say why. People ask me whether it was because I saw something in Zack; I have to tell them no. I had made my decision to join months before I knew the boy existed. Perhaps it was time. Perhaps I had a feeling. Perhaps I'd simply grown weary, in a way, of the typical SOLDIER duties and needed something different. Something more._

_I deliberated at length before I made my decision; I sought advice from both Sephiroth and Genesis. In the end, their words did not help much. When I finally made my decision, I'm afraid it was a bit … impulsive._

_It was done not knowing what I would find, either in the students, or myself, to make the decision a success. I had committed myself, wholeheartedly, to an unknown – an act of faith that I would find the right student, the student that would find value in what I had to say, and what I had to teach. I didn't know whether I might have missed that student in previous years, or whether that student would even arrive this year. But I had to believe that he would, because to happen otherwise would be a tragic waste, both for myself, and for the student that had no need of me. But I could not pull out, nor could I change my decision, regardless of the students available. I was committed; I would follow through._

_Needless to say, I found Zack, or he found me. And the rest … well, need not be said now. I digress._

_Back to the dragons. The little creatures were always hungry, it seemed – either they slept, or they ate; the tussles and mischief they got into linked to looking for food, or an impatient diversion from their hunger. In order to keep some semblance of normalcy, Zack and I attempted to get them used to eating only at certain times of the day … though I admit that this was mainly accomplished simply by letting them eat their fill at mealtimes, after which they would snooze until the next meal._

"Zack … where's my sandwich?"

The boy swallowed a mouthful of his own lunch. "What sandwich? Didn't you eat it?"

"… No …"

"Well, don't look at me. _I_ didn't eat it!" He gave his mentor a carefully innocent look.

"Zack …" Angeal warned.

At that moment, a dark shape emerged from behind Zack's back, dragging half of the sandwich in question. It blinked at Angeal in curiosity. The First narrowed his eyes, and Zack, catching the change in focus, glanced down to see the little creature.

"Wha-? _Se-eph!_" The boy's voice was full of feigned surprise. "I _told_ you not to take that! Bad dragon!" He made a grab for the sandwich, only for the little dragon to back away, then turn tail and bolt, sandwich fixings leaving a trail behind him. "Oops … Well, sorry, Angeal, guess he made off with your lunch." Zack turned around, with an amused grin, only to find Angeal glaring at him in a way that said that he did not find the humor in the situation. Uncomfortable, Zack cleared his throat. Then he got up and took off after the dragon. "Seph! Sandwiches are not for dragons! Get back here! _Seph!_"

Angeal sighed. Then he set about fixing a replacement lunch.

_… This may be premature, but I have a feeling that the dragons and Zack are learning bad habits from each other._

_It only took a few days for the dragons' sleep schedule to shorten, and soon they remained awake more than they slept, while we traveled. However, at the time, they still did not have the stamina required to walk with us on their own. This led to some … interesting predicaments._

"Angeal! Would you – _gah!_ – Seph's eating my hair again!"

For the _nth_ time, Angeal wondered why Zack had to name the dragon "_Seph_". Really, naming animals after friends and family was just a bad idea, in general. He glanced over at his student, to see him wrestling with the little black dragon, while the green one – Ness – slowly clawed its way sideways around Zack's shirt. The boy's uncomfortable twitching was amusing. He looked like he didn't know whether or not he should attempt to pry either of the dragons off. Finally, with a last squirm, he boosted Ness up to his shoulder to further avoid the tiny, wandering claws. The little creature found itself staring down Zack's back at a dizzying view of the moving ground below, and abruptly sunk its claws into the boy's shoulder. Zack yelped.

"You're the one who wanted to carry him in the first place, Zack," Angeal pointed out.

"That's only because – _ack!_ – he was sleeping!" Abruptly, Zack shook his head to try to dislodge Sephiroth's namesake from its perch. This only made the little dragon fan its miniature wings for balance – an interesting sight, as the dragon was a good match for the color of Zack's hair – and begin loudly keening through its teeth, without letting go of the lock it was chewing on, as if Zack was cruelly torturing it.

"Zack," Angeal couldn't help a chuckle, "stop it. Leave the poor thing alone."

"But I'm not _doing_ anything! _He's_ the one eating _me_!" The Third was forced to stop anyway, though, if only to keep himself from getting dizzy. With a satisfied murmur, the dragon settled down and continued chewing in bliss.

Zack sighed, dramatically. "_Angeal!_"

Lips twitching up in a smirk, the First ignored his student, turning his attention to the dragon poking its head out of his own satchel. He rubbed the crown of its head, causing it to warble appreciatively, and snuggle further against him. "Kiran's a good dragon, aren't you, girl?"

"Traitor," Zack grumbled, stalking on ahead. The two dragons perched upon him undermined his attempt to appear stern.

_The dragons learned early on that stopping usually meant food. In a way, this was convenient, as they were certainly ready to eat the second the food was ready. In most other ways, however, it wasn't. They seemed to possess a sixth sense – or perhaps they learned that we typically stopped at regular intervals – and would begin to chirp. The longer it took for us to stop and fetch the food, the more insistent their chirping began. And if we were in need of hunting down additional meat, it rapidly got a hundred times worse._

Angeal hurried back to the campsite, carrying two spriggans over his shoulder. It had taken him a while this time to find anything suitable, as not all monsters were good for eating. He'd had to descend toward the lowlands just to find these, and the sun was already touching down on the horizon. He hoped Zack was in the mood for giant amphibian tonight.

He also hoped that the dragons hadn't roughed up his student too much this time. For babies, the little creatures were certainly well equipped. Though their skin was soft, their teeth and claws were sharp, and they hadn't yet learned to control them. They bit hard when playing, especially if they were hungry. Several times he'd returned, only to find Zack scratched up and bleeding, as he had tried to keep them occupied until their food arrived.

Zack himself never seemed to notice, however.

Finally, the SOLDIER reached the campsite, already resigning himself to patching up his student yet again. What he saw brought him to a halt in stunned disbelief.

Zack stood on the hilltop, laughing, a wide smile across his face. In his hands he held their emergency signaling mirror, and, with the last rays of the setting sun, he'd created a tiny glowing spot on the ground. All three of the dragons were entranced by the bright reflection. As Zack tilted the mirror back and forth, causing the spot to race across the ground, they would fall over themselves in an attempt to chase and catch it.

For once, it didn't look as if he had a single scratch on him. Angeal had to shake his head in grudging admiration.

_… Surprisingly, sometimes things worked out for the better._

_The little dragons developed rapidly. In this way, they also differed greatly from normal pets. Within two weeks, they had no trouble keeping up with us as we marched along; I imagine this would have been quite a sight to anyone watching._

_They slimmed up quite a bit. Gone were the round bellies, stubby tails, and awkward gaits. Though far from the angular lines of mature dragons, or the graceful curves they would gain when they grew out of their baby proportions, there was yet a hint of what they would look like full-grown. Gone were the "puppy" ears – they had opened up, becoming the long, thin structures that would hide beneath horns when they started to grow in. Also gone was the uncoordinated way in which they would flap their wings in play. It seems that they finally discovered there was a use for the ungainly appendages, and the dragons now used them to aid in long hops across the ground. They had developed a pattern in walking – a rapid trot for about a minute, followed by two bounces accompanied by flapping wings, and finally a good leap, before landing and resuming a trot, while the wings were slowly re-folded. Repeat. Their paws, however, were still proportionally large, so they had far to go before they lost their characteristic puppyish gait._

_As with all young – and I include Zack in this statement – they had a fascination for everything around them, often bounding off to investigate. It took an effort to disengage them from whatever had stolen their attention and bring just one of them back in line, let alone all. At least Zack put as much enthusiasm into helping as he did in causing his own trouble, so when it was just the dragons gone every which way, there was still hope. But when it was Zack who ran off, things tended to be much worse, as the dragons would all follow his lead. And he was the one who tended to dig up the biggest problems._

"_Holy!_" Angeal had to act quickly to scoop up the three dragons before they ran any further into the clearing.

"I didn't know it was a _grand horn_, Angeal! Honest!" Hearing the voice of his student, Angeal had to search for a moment, before finally locating him in a nearby tree. The boy clutched the branches tightly, holding his sword in one hand, but hesitant about what to do with it. Below him, the grand horn stood, its massive bulk looming above the ground, spine nearly high enough to brush the lower edge of the branches Zack had taken refuge in.

The grand horn was a mammoth creature, with legs like tree trunks, the stance of a bull, and long, curved horns, almost as thick around at the base as its legs were. Its reddish skin was nearly as thick, tough and leathery, layered over heavy armored plates surrounding its skull, neck and back, which made it seem as if it had virtually no neck at all – just one massive hunk of muscle from head to rump. Its flattened face was as ugly as its backside, adorned with a permanent grimace.

The grand horn's defenses made its skin nigh impenetrable; either to magic or physical attacks, and it had a stubborn, malignant personality that ensured it would take an immediate dislike to whatever creature happened to be near it, and not forget about it until that creature was properly squashed.

All SOLDIERs dreaded the thought of facing a grand horn. Except Zack, apparently.

"I thought it was just a _dual_ horn!" the Third wailed. The grand horn shifted restlessly, prodding the branches with its formidable horns, making them shake. It could not look up to see the young SOLDIER that had disturbed it – the mass of muscle and bony plates rendered the creature incapable of craning its neck – but it knew the boy was there. It rumbled menacingly and butted up against the trunk. Zack yelped and shifted further back into the tree as it shook.

Angeal sighed. As the baby dragons struggled to be free of his arms and chase after a monster that could stomp them flat, he felt another headache beginning to develop. Zack had certainly gotten himself into a fix this time. They would need to have another talk about the monster-hunting part of their expedition, especially while the baby dragons were present.

After a few more minutes of letting his student squirm, he readied his mastered Quake materia for a good rumble that would be sure to give the behemoth grand horn something else to think about.

_I will need to have another talk with my student about monster identification._

_Between meals and the herding of young dragons (and Zack) from one place to another, we found the time to, once again, take up our lessons in swordsmanship. This had become a sorely neglected point of Zack's training, until now, when we had figured out the dragons enough to establish a new routine._

_Upon the return of this exercise, it seemed that the dragons also discovered a new favorite past time._

Once again, it was pre-dusk, the sun hanging low in the sky. There was a slight nip to the breeze that stirred the long, lush grass into dancing, the elevation beginning to steal the warmth more quickly from the land, as the day turned to night. The ringing and clash of steel provided an almost musical tune, carrying easily on the wind.

Three little dragons watched in curious fascination as the two SOLDIERs went at each other. They didn't quite know what to make of it. Was it play? Was it attack? They had no concept of swords, or why they were being waved around; but the swords were irrelevant anyway – important, only, was the strange intent of their traveling companions. What were they doing? Three little sets of eyes followed them back and forth across the field.

Finally, one of them decided that this was something they must take part in, and when one decided something, the rest followed. Whether it was play or quarrel, it was only natural to side with the strongest individual. The first dragon took off, galloping in Zack's direction, followed closely by the other two.

Zack noticed them out of the corner of his eye, but was caught entirely by surprise when they mobbed him and knocked him over. Three little mouths immediately descended upon him, pulling at hair and clothing.

"Hey! What're you- Get off!" he squawked.

They ignored him, drowning him out with little mock growls and much flapping of wings.

When they finally sorted things out and got the dragons set to the side, the SOLDIERs were again ready to continue. After a moment of circling and sizing each other up, Angeal lunged.

Immediately, so did the dragons.

"Ack! _Angeal!_ What did you _do_ to them?" Zack backpedaled, waving them off.

When attempts three and four met with the same result, Angeal could no longer hold his sword steady due to the mirth shaking his shoulders, and had to forfeit. Zack, frustrated, but unable to keep a straight face either, stalked back to the campsite.

"This is _your_ fault, Angeal!" he shouted, turning around to point an accusing finger at his mentor, even while smothering a grin. "You're all conspiring against me, I know it!"

In reply, Angeal simply made as if to spring in his direction, prompting the dragons into yet another headlong charge after Zack.

Zack took off running. "_An-geal!_"

The First couldn't help the laughter that burst out.

_I can only surmise that they sided with whomever they viewed as the combatant most likely to win._

_It is worth noting that, as the dragons get older, they are developing distinct personalities. Though it could only be my attempt to bestow human characteristics upon them, they are, at the very least, uniquely different in their actions and preferences. It makes me wonder whether all wild dragons might be the same._

_Ness, our little green dragon, is the curious one. Though they all share in the curiosity – more than can possibly be healthy – it is Ness that will push things to the extreme. Her brilliant blue eyes are always turned to the sky, watching something, or following a small insect along, or chasing down some extraordinary new scent. More often than not, it is Ness's little ventures that have us all scrambling to track the dragons down before they get into trouble. She is quite oblivious to the predicaments she gets herself, or others, into. Not surprisingly, she was the first to successfully coordinate the movements of her wings to aid in the little glide-leap that they do. Seph's jealous expression was worth seeing._

_Seph, for his part, has quite the attitude. If there is something to attack, chase, or rip apart, he will be the first one there. He will also attack things before he realizes that it is not something worth attacking. Like shadows. Or rocks. Or falling leaves. He is the first one to eat, first to mob Zack, and first to take off after a new noise. Honestly, he and Zack deserve each other. They are always chasing each other around, for entirely different reasons. He is nothing like his namesake._

_Curiously, however, he seems to have developed an attachment to Zack, and Zack to him, which, despite, or perhaps because of, his name, I am amused by. Though we rotate the dragons while we travel, so as not to isolate any one of them for extended periods, Seph will always find something of Zack's on which to chew, be it his hair, hand, or clothing. I don't know if he simply has a fascination in chewing everything, as he will certainly mangle just about anything else, or if Zack is important in some way. He doesn't seem to be that bad around me, although I have had to discourage him from perching on my head on more than one occasion. Inevitably, Seph is always the one snuggled beneath Zack's arm when we bed down for the night, maintaining a gentle grip on one of Zack's hands with his teeth._

_Kiran, on the other hand, is Seph's polar opposite. She is sweet and gentle … well, as gentle as a dragon gets, I suppose. She is hardly shy, as she will play and roughhouse and tag along with the other dragons, but her great joy seems to be not in chewing things or chasing new scents, but in the simple companionship of those around her. It is she I often see poking her head above the grass to check on everyone's location, while the other two remain oblivious, and she who will make the rounds when we stop for a rest, nudging and clambering over everyone at least once (irregardless of the growing sharpness of her claws), as if her way of ensuring that they are alright._

_She is also very clever. Where the other dragons might miss something, Kiran will figure it out. She has succeeded in getting fruit from the highest branches on a tree, scared lizards from their hiding places into her waiting claws while the others chase them fruitlessly, and skipped rocks with Zack across a pond. She is quite an amazing little creature. I knew dragons were intelligent, but it is she that makes me wonder just how intelligent they might be. Are they simply clever, the way dolphins and ravens are? Or is there something more in her steady, golden eyes?_

_While Zack seems to favor Seph, I believe it is Kiran that I am partial to._

_Despite all their differences, however, the little dragons can be quite predictable to an extent, now that we've spent some time with them._

They'd climbed higher among the mountain peaks now, and the snowcaps did not seem quite so far away. Upon wandering into a mountain meadow, the dragons took off chasing butterflies and wildflowers, and scattering birds. Zack, naturally, ran after them to bring them back in line. It soon became clear that he wasn't trying too hard.

Angeal, content and pleased by the progress they'd made, chose to allow them their fun. It was time they had some relaxation – they'd been going hard for several weeks now, and it was quite a chore to look after the rambunctious baby dragons. He knew Zack was also looking to cut loose. It was nice to let them run around without fear of danger; Angeal had a wide view of the meadow, and there was nothing large enough to pose a threat. Zack was competent enough to hold anything at bay, anyway, if the need arose.

Angeal slowed his stride to an easy amble, in no hurry to cross the meadow. This place was pristine, untouched, a gentle, green blanket spread across the area and sloping gently upward to the edges of a rocky slope of scree. Lush and verdant, there were sprinklings of blue and white and yellow, wildflowers scattered across the expanse. Though the air was cool, the sun was blissfully warm here across his back, the sky solid and unending. It was a mountain paradise.

They couldn't stay here, however, and Angeal eventually reached the point where he needed to call his errant charges back to continue into the forest. Locating them romping around in the near distance, just over a gentle rise, he put his fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly.

It took a second for the sound to reach them, but they immediately stopped and looked up. Then, as one, they raced for him, Zack and dragons unconsciously turning it into a competition. When they reached him, breathless and grinning, and staggering up the last few feet of the slope, little dragon tails waving tiredly back and forth, Angeal could almost see a tail wagging behind his student as well.

_It is remarkable just how much like puppies they act sometimes._

_A curious thing about baby dragons is the soft gray-white fuzz they all have. I don't recall this being mentioned in any biology book, or in any of ShinRa's published guides; I have to conclude that this is something unknown, which is not too farfetched. There have not been done a lot of wildlife studies on the development of monsters, aside from basic identification, habits, diet, and typical home range. This is especially true of the rare and more dangerous creatures, like dragons._

_Upon close investigation, it was revealed that the fuzz is not fur, but a thin, downy covering of feathers. They are underdeveloped, more like tiny wisps than anything. This down, along with the soft, supple skin that I had thought would be hard scales instead, makes them a joy to hold … provided they are not in the mood to claw and bite. I could only guess that they would develop the hard scales of their parents at some point._

_And, indeed, this began to occur much sooner than I had expected. It seems that dragons really do possess a rapid development phase, at least while young. First the loss of their most baby features, followed by the quick development of the muscles and coordination needed to run and accomplish the initial stages of flight. And now, it seems, a month after hatching, they begin to shed their baby fluff._

_It is my guess that this is occurring because their hard scales are beginning to grow in. The feathers may be the precursor to scales, perhaps a remnant of whatever course of evolution dragons once took, kept for a short while from their time in the shell where scales may be unnecessary and cumbersome. Right now, however, their new scales, still tiny and soft, are only coming in on their legs, head, and tail. I don't know how long it will take for the rest to follow suit._

_There is only one problem with dragon fluff. Zack is allergic._

_He was perfectly fine, right up until the dragons began to shed. Now, however, he is constantly sneezing, his nose is stuffy, and his eyes are red. My heart goes out to him. He is thoroughly miserable, though he doesn't show it. I can see that it is preventing him from being at his best during our drills and monster encounters. As much as he loves the little creatures, he is forced to attempt to distance himself from him – practically impossible given their natures, and I'm sure that remnants of the dragon fluff are on everything we have by now anyway. I try to give him some time each day away from them, but he always returns and insists on cuddling up with them to sleep as usual. Stubborn kid. The only thing I can do for him is prepare an herbal drink before bed to ease the symptoms and help him sleep._

_I can only hope that the dragons will lose the remainder of their fluff soon._

Angeal looked up from the animal he was skinning at the sound of Zack's ungraceful return from the forest.

"Ah, good, I was wondering where you had all run off to …" He trailed off, jaw going slack at the sight before him.

Zack was covered, head to toe, in thick, black mud. As were the dragons beside him; bright curious eyes peeked out from their dark masks. The boy adopted a sheepish look, refusing to meet his mentor's eyes.

"Hey, Angeal."

Angeal rose, taking a few steps toward his student. For once, he was utterly at a loss of words. His eyes took in the situation. Zack fidgeted under his scrutiny, wiping his cheek with the back of a muddy hand, only to smear more of the substance around. Glancing at his hand, his wrinkled his nose in disgust, and he shook it, sending a glop of mud flying to land at Angeal's feet. Another glop fell from his elbow, a third slid down a lock of hair.

Angeal slowly brought his hand up to cover his mouth in disbelief at the sheer extent of the mess Zack had gotten into, but also to hide the amused smile growing there.

"What in Gaia's name …?" He shook his head. "You know what? I don't even want to know. Go. All of you." He gestured away from the campsite. "I don't want you setting one foot in here until you clean yourselves up."

This broke Zack's nervous silence. "But Angeal! I already tried!" He gestured wildly. "I thought I'd give 'em all a bath, 'cause maybe that would help with the whole allergy thing, but then I saw the mud at the side of the pond and thought that maybe that'd help too, since that's what people did in Gongaga for pet lizards an' stuff … but then the dragons decided they liked the mud better'n the water, so they wouldn't go back in the water, and then I tried to get them back out, but they just made a big mess and wouldn't leave, and then I slipped and fell in because they were running around all over the place, and it's really all their fault-"

At this, one of the dragons chirped at him. Angeal hazarded a guess that it was Seph, based on the color of the eyes.

"What?" Zack glanced down at the little dragon. "Don't give me that! You did too!" Another chirp. "It _is_ your fault – you did it on purpose!" The little dragon came back with a series of yips. "No, don't blame it on me." A whistle. "Don't blame it on Ness, either."

Angeal stared at them, eyebrow raised. He wasn't sure what to make of Zack talking to the dragon, and remained skeptical of whether he actually was, or whether it was just another of the boy's quirks.

_Maybe it's a Gongagan thing._

There was a warble from the dragon. "Don't start in on that!" Ness joined in with a questioning sound. "Not you too!" Zack raised his hands, flustered. "That has nothing to do with it!"

On second thought, Angeal was pretty sure it was just a Zack thing. He cleared his throat.

"Aright, _enough_!" Zack and the dragons immediately stopped mid-bicker, and their attentions jerked back to the First. "You're all coming with me, and you're all getting cleaned up, or you can expect to skip dinner tonight. Understood?"

"Yes, Angeal," Zack meekly replied.

As Angeal strode forward, the little dragons happily yipped and made to leap upon him in joyful greeting. He turned a stern gaze down upon them.

"_No._ Not until you're clean." In response, the dragons lowered their heads, ears drooping.

"Ha! Serves you right." Zack smirked at the dragons.

Angeal promptly whacked the back of his head, drawing a startled yelp.

"That's enough out of you."

But, though they were a mess, he couldn't stay mad. And with the sly grins the "kids" shot at each other, he knew that they knew it too.

_Sometimes Zack comes up with rather … creative ways of solving his problems. He always means well. But I am not always so sure about their effectiveness. However, this was one time, at least, when his trouble paid off – the mud bath, surprisingly, worked in reducing the severity of Zack's allergy for the night._

_Well, it could easily have been the bathing of the dragons afterward, I suppose, and not the mud. But not if you ask Zack._

_Right now, the boy is sleeping, snuggled up with his dragons, Seph happily chomped on his hand. Kiran and Mochi keep me company. Kiran will join Zack soon; she likes to watch me write, but she, too, is nodding off. Mochi will stay with me, however – I have been temporarily gifted with the behemoth plush to keep the dragons from chewing on it while Zack sleeps. I made the mistake once of asking why Zack can't simply keep the plush in his pack, and got an indignant earful. Keeping Mochi with me is much less painful._

_… When I first set out on this expedition with Zack, I vowed to keep some distance between us. It is something I should have attempted more to do when I first met the boy, but circumstances got in the way, and I was not as vigilant in that effort as I should have been. In reminding myself of the importance of presenting things from a firm position of authority, not only for the benefit of his development, but also for the purpose of representing the skill, knowledge, and strength of SOLDIER, I thought I could remedy the situation._

_We would travel together, and I would teach and train, and he would learn and demonstrate what he knew. There was no need to be overly formal (it was too late for that); we would be friendly, but we weren't pals. It was necessary. Zack had to understand our positions; otherwise, how could he properly respect the authority and knowledge that I had?_

_Things started out well. Zack was professional. I think he had caught on to the slight aloofness I'd had, and understood._

_But somewhere along the way, as before, it just … disappeared. I don't even think I noticed. Zack has this … natural, easygoing air about him, and an honest eagerness to please, so any formalities go quickly out the window. Soon, we were back to where we'd been before the mission, and even that was degrading. Despite our station as SOLDIERs, despite the position of mentor/student, or First/Third, despite our being on a true mission together, Zack just wanted to have fun._

_Zack just wanted to be friends._

_Despite my attempts to put some distance between us, I ended up telling him more stories. I'd told him stories before, but these were different – they were about me, they were personal. I ended up teasing him. I ended up ruffling his hair. I sometimes smiled when he laughed, and forgot to push him away when he hugged me for no good reason but a Zack reason._

_And, just as I am worried that we allowed the dragons to get too close to us, I am worried that I am allowing Zack too close to me._

_We are not supposed to be friends. That is not the way of mentor and student in SOLDIER. Let him wait until he is a First. Then we will be able to stand on equal footing. Otherwise, I worry that I will not be strict when I need to be. I worry that I will let things slide that I shouldn't, that could hinder Zack later. I worry that I will not let Zack take chances he should take, or that I will allow him to take the chances he shouldn't, and that I will protect him when I have no right to. I need to back away, to let him learn how to stand on his own two feet._

_Should I distance myself now? Yes. I should. But I don't know if I can. I have tried already, and somehow failed. And now, here I am, with the boy's silly plush in my lap, not because I said I would keep it safe, but because I couldn't bear to see the trust in his eyes turn to disappointment._

_And for that reason, I would fail again, if I tried. And in doing so, fail Zack, as my student. I think, perhaps, Sephiroth would have been the better mentor for Zack. He could understand the boy well enough, yet remain strict._

_Perhaps I should ask Sephiroth's views on the subject, now that I think of it. He often possesses some incredible insight. Most think that I have all the answers when it comes to human nature. And, though it is true that I am familiar with people, the reality is …_

_I am at a loss when it comes to my own student._

_Perhaps I will try again tomorrow._

_Perhaps._

* * *

><p><strong>End Part IV<strong>


	5. Reality

**Author's Note:** Well, this one took a long time to finally finish. No real excuse, except that I was alternately busy and couldn't quite drum up the mood to work on it. But it's here, at long last! The events near the end of this chapter were something I have had planned since near the beginning, so I hope they came out well! Also, there is a scene in here done for the prompt _Sugar_ at 50 Scenes in LiveJournal.

In other news, I will be heading to Anime Expo next weekend! Cool point if you're making it there too. ;)

Oh, and I don't usually reply to anonymous reviews in my Notes (not because I don't want to, but because I'd rather not take up the space in the chapter), but I'll make an exception here. **To gryphon icefire 98:** I am so glad you like this story so much! Dragons and FF7 are definitely an awesome combination, in my opinion. ;) I am also extremely honored that you felt you might like to draw some scenes from the story and wanted to let you know that you are welcome to draw anything you like. Please let me know if you do, so I can post links to it! Thank you!

Hope you all enjoy! And thanks to LuckyLadybug for help!

* * *

><p><strong>Part V: Reality<strong>

Seph and Kiran had chosen to ride with Zack that morning, instead of bounding along behind him. They had gotten too large to fit in the satchel together, but one still fit comfortably enough, so that's where Kiran now was, cuddled around Zack's waist. Or she was, until Seph had gotten tired of simply clinging to Zack's shoulders and gnawing on his hair.

"Seph! Kiran! Would you guys give it a _rest_?"

There was a cacophony of yips and barks and whistles, as Seph, leaning down from Zack's shoulder and gripping the front of his uniform, busily antagonized Kiran from her place beneath Zack's arm. She hissed back, prompting Seph to bare his teeth and reply with an open-mouthed growl. They ignored Zack, even when he tried, unsuccessfully, to shove Seph back onto his shoulder.

"_Angeal_ … a little help here?"

The First chuckled. "I seem to recall something about mandating that _you're_ the one responsible for the dragons if we keep them." Ness lounged about his shoulders, playing with a flower. She watched the other dragons with interest.

"Yeah, but …" There was a sigh. "Why don't you guys get up and _walk_?" This last was directed at the two bickering dragons.

Seph promptly whapped the side of Zack's head with his tail, intentionally or not, as he maneuvered for a better position on the front of the shirt. "Ack! Seph!" Zack squirmed as claws inadvertently pinched his skin. He grabbed the dragon, preparing to pry him away. Kiran arched her back and snapped at the black dragon, fanning her wings. Zack lurched, the movement throwing him off balance.

Clutching tighter, Seph snarled, then opened his mouth wide. There was a dim glow from deep within his maw, then, with a cross between a _cough_ and a _huff_, he spat out a tiny fireball. It missed Kiran completely, landing squarely on Zack's hip.

Zack yelped. "_Seph!_" Frantically patting down the smoldering fabric, he let out a growl of his own. "That's _it_!" Grabbing the little dragon and prying him off his shirt, he lifted the creature over his head, and tossed him – gently – to the ground. Immediately, Seph spread his wings, gliding to an easy landing. Sensing an opening, Kiran sprung from her position in the satchel and tackled him. They rolled, then Seph darted away, closely followed by Kiran. Not wanting to miss out, Ness leapt from her place on Angeal's shoulder and bounced after them.

"Blasted dragons!" Zack shook his head, then grinned ruefully, glancing down at his uniform with a chuckle. "Uniform's not gonna last long at this rate!"

Angeal eyed him critically. Though the uniform held up well, there were numerous small rips, tears, and holes made by playful dragons, some on accident, some on purpose. And now there were several blackened patches where the fabric had gotten singed – the dragons had begun to develop their flame weapon a few days ago. Still incredibly weak, and mostly smoke, it was occasionally enough to burn with the energy of a short-lived candle. It was completely ineffective in attack, but the dragons loved to practice.

Angeal sighed. "Give it to me tonight, and I'll see what I can do with it." Though he really should let Zack patch the clothing up himself …

"Awesome! Thanks, Angeal!" Zack grinned widely, glomped his mentor quickly, and bounded off, before Angeal could shove him away or change his mind.

Angeal shook his head. _Puppies._

For the next hour, Zack kept the dragons relatively in line simply by trailing a large, leafy branch across the ground, which they chased around and battled like it was some living creature. Thankfully, Zack's allergies had eased now that the dragons had shed most of their fluff. There was a little bit of lingering gray on their heads and between their wings, but the rest of their bodies was covered in sleek, shiny scales. Seph was particularly a sight, the glossy ebony of his scales promising that he would be a very handsome dragon indeed. Kiran and Ness, too, were beginning to show their beauty – now much easier to distinguish without the obscuring fuzz, they practically shimmered in the sunlight. Ness had become a brilliant emerald, while Kiran was the frost on an evergreen, the color of the silver-green sagebrush growing in the Wastelands around Midgar. Their scales were still soft, but they would harden with time.

As the dragons pursued Zack's branch, they would occasionally launch themselves into the air and into a flying tackle – as their wings grew, and their muscles grew stronger, they spent more and more time using them and practicing. Though they weren't able to truly fly just jet, it was easy to see that that time wasn't far off. A glide was the best they could manage, but they had perfected the art of a wing-assisted jump to launch themselves respecable distances.

Angeal didn't bother slowing his pace as the boy and dragons ran back and forth around him. As long as Zack kept the dragons out of trouble, that was the important thing, and he knew enough to keep up. At the rate they were carrying on, the dragons would be properly tired out by lunch, just in time to eat and have a short afternoon snooze. With any luck, the majority of their excess energy would be burned off for the rest of the afternoon, giving the SOLDIERs a break and allowing the traveling to go a little smoother.

It was a constant challenge watching the baby dragons. Every day was … well, although Angeal wouldn't term it an _ordeal_, exactly, it wasn't a walk in the park, either. The dragons always seemed to be learning something new, getting into new mischief and requiring new methods to keep them in line, which, inevitably, didn't always succeed. His hope of settling into a comfortable routine never seemed to materialize. Though there was a routine of sorts, the little dragons were adept at shaking it up. But Angeal did look forward to the usual afternoon quiet times - when they happened - and evenings after the dragons were sleepy from their meal. It was no coincidence that Zack, often running around with the dragons, was worn-out with them.

Angeal chuckled to himself. He would have some adorable photos to show Genesis and Sephiroth and embarrass Zack with later.

Thoughtful, he glanced up at the mountain peaks. They skirted them, the First unwilling to get into such harsh territory unless there was a need for it. Zack would get winter survival training at some point; this mission, with the baby dragons, was neither the time nor place for it. The little dragons seemed to do well enough moving around during the increasingly chilly days, but they still preferred to snuggle together when relaxing or snoozing. Whether it was a preference they hadn't grown out of, or mandated by body temperature, he did not know.

More often now, Angeal would scan the mountains, looking for some sign of other dragons. It had taken them a long time, now, to reach this point – almost two weeks past the month he had originally planned for their excursion. Of course, in the initial stages, they'd been more focused on learning how to care for the young dragons than _searching_ for dragons, but it was now time they devote their energy to the point of all their efforts to date. They couldn't keep the dragons forever.

Zack knew this, and though neither he nor Angeal had said anything, Angeal would occasionally note a melancholy feel to his actions. Sometimes the boy would stop, uncharacteristically, and just watch the dragons play. His smile would fade, just slightly, and at the end of it, he always looked as if he wanted to say something. But he would stop himself with a shake of the head and a rueful smile, and simply jog out to join them. And often, lately, he remained awake long after he normally went to bed, just studying the dragons sleeping around him, letting fingers stroke the remnants of dragon fur.

Angeal supposed he understood how his student felt - he felt the same way. He'd gotten used to them, with all their antics and troublemaking. For all the mischief they got into, they were adorable, and sweet, and kind, and so innocent … and, almost like a beloved pet, they seemed to recognize when you were down, and would literally push their way into your thoughts, so that you would stop paying attention to those thoughts, and start paying attention to them.

And little Kiran … Angeal would miss her late-night presence, watching him write with wise golden eyes until she fell asleep on his shoulder.

It would be hard letting them go.

His hand strayed to the pocket where he kept his phone. It was time to check in with Sephiroth, and see if there had been any additional dragon sightings.

He hesitated. His hand dropped.

He would wait just a little bit longer.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, when Angeal flipped his phone shut and put it away, Zack scrambled up from his place on the rock near the snoozing dragons, and bounded over to him, munching on a candy bar.<p>

"Anything?" he queried.

The First sighed. "No. If I could, I would send out a tracking party to locate one for us. But I don't want that kind of attention on this mission."

Zack bit off a chunk from his snack. "… What'f we can't find 'nother dragon?" he mangled the words. At the question, Angeal gave the Third a hard look. Zack raised his hands in defense, swallowing. "… I know, I _know_ … we can't keep 'em. But what happens if we just can't find another dragon?"

Angeal turned his gaze to the rugged landscape around them. The elevation had made things a little sparse. Though greenery still existed, the pines here were old and craggy, twisted forms clinging to life in this harsh zone of high winds and cold climate. The sun had abandoned them early today, taking refuge behind a thick layer of gray clouds; a brisk wind nipped at their exposed skin, tugging on locks of hair. He considered the question.

Finally, he answered. "Whatever happens … keeping them is not an option." At this, Zack's face fell a little, and his eyes lowered. Clearly, though he knew it was impossible, a part of him still hoped Angeal just _might_ change his mind.

The First continued. "They are wild creatures, Zack. They would still be wild if we took them back with us. Trying to domesticate them would be doing them an injustice. They could never fit into our lives, into society. They need to be free." He sighed. "Living in Midgar, or any other city, would confine them. It would destroy everything you love about them. Yes, I know they've been doing great – they seem like wonderful companions, they're smart, they learn, they can be taught … but you can still feel that wildness inside. To stay with us would be to lose something of themselves." Angeal paused, glancing up at the clouds. "The dragons themselves would probably never know it. They may be perfectly happy. … But Gaia would weep for them."

Zack lifted his gaze to consider his mentor. The man watched the racing clouds, wind whisking dark strands of hair away from his rugged face. Thoughtful blue eyes seemed to examine something only he could see. "… You sound like you know from experience."

Angeal's mouth quirked into a melancholy smile, and he returned his gaze to his student. "I may have tried something similar, at one point, long ago, when I thought the thing I wanted most was a pet."

Zack echoed his smile. "My parents never let me keep a pet. The best I had was a little bird that flew away out the window, and a lizard that I managed to hide for three days, once, before Mom found it." He chuckled. "… So, what happened?"

Angeal hesitated. "… At the end, the animal no longer had a place where it belonged. One day, it disappeared and didn't come back. … I don't think it survived."

Zack's eyes widened. "I-I'm sorry, Angeal!" He gazed at his mentor in sadness. "I didn't realize …"

"It was a long time ago, Zack." Angeal gave the boy a small smile. "Don't worry about it." He cleared his throat, changing the topic. "If we don't find another dragon, we may just need to let our dragons go off on their own. They're smart, and they're capable enough to catch small game – you've seen them with the lizards and rabbits. They'll survive."

"But, Angeal … they're just babies!" Zack exclaimed. "They can't even fly yet!"

"You know that won't be the case for long. We don't have any other choice."

"But what about other monsters?"

"The dragons are smart. They'll figure things out on their own. They'll have to."

"But what about-"

"Zack."

"But-"

"_Zack._" Angeal cast a stern eye on him. "That's all we can do. Do you have any other ideas?"

Zack dropped his gaze. "… No …"

"Then _trust_ them." His eyes softened. "Besides, we haven't reached that point yet. We're still looking."

Zack sighed, dejectedly. "Yeah, I guess …" It still meant that they'd be leaving the dragons, one way or another.

"Come on." Angeal laid a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go check on them." With a gentle pressure, he headed the boy back to their resting spot. "… What is that you're eating, anyway?" He gestured to the empty candy wrapper Zack still held. "Didn't I tell you to pack nutritious snacks?"

"It _is_ nutritious!" Zack perked up a little, holding up the wrapper. "It's _chocolate_. And peanuts and caramel." He grinned. "Kunsel says it's the best thing you can take on a mission."

Angeal raised an eyebrow. "Does he?" Shaking his head, he muttered to himself, "I'm going to have to have a talk with that boy."

They returned to the baby dragons, only to be brought up short by the sight before them. Somehow, the dragons had managed to figure out how to open Zack's pack, and now the contents of the pack were strewn all across the ground. Among the scattered clothing, numerous empty candy wrappers rolled along in the wind, and several half-eaten bags and bars lay spilled upon the rocks. Ness looked up from where she was still digging into his pack. Seph, gnawing on a chocolate-covered bar, glanced in their direction, then went back to his gnawing. Kiran skidded to a stop from chasing along an empty wrapper to refocus her attention upon them.

Angeal stared at the mess. Abruptly, Seph growled ferociously at his chocolate prize, snapping it in two. He ignored the SOLDIERs. The First turned toward his student. "… And just what _else_ has Kunsel been telling you?"

It took a moment for Zack to find his voice. "… _Ness! Seph! Kiran! _ What are you _doing_?" He broke into a run to shoo the dragons away from the mess, stopping only once to make sure that his discarded behemoth plush had survived the assault on his pack. Abruptly, the dragons scattered, Ness pulling free of the pack with a last desperate grab at something inside. A red package came loose, immediately tearing open and scattering bright, colorful candies all over the ground. The dragon scampered off with it, spilling the remainder. Zack gave chase.

Angeal shook his head, taking in the sheer amount of the candy the dragons must have consumed. "Zack … how much of this did you pack?" He looked on in disbelief. A mangled wrapper breezed by his foot.

"Oh, you know … just a month's worth!" his student called back.

A month's worth? Based on the volume of empty and scattered packages, Angeal doubted that his student's definition of a month's worth of candy was anywhere close to a normal person's definition. He frowned. "… And just how much of it did you eat yourself?"

"Just a few!"

"How many is a few?"

"Uh … I dunno, four or five chocolate bars!"

_Four or five_ … So the dragons had apparently consumed, by far, the majority of Zack's stash. Angeal groaned. They would either be dealing with some very sick dragons – _could they metabolize that much sugar?_ – or some very hyperactive dragons.

He actually wasn't sure which he preferred.

There was a yelp, and Angeal glanced up to see his student recovering from a stumble, the dragons racing by underfoot. The boy quickly changed direction to continue running after them.

With the sudden disappearance of the dragons' usual midday laziness, Angeal concluded that they would be dealing with the second option. That figured out, he wished his student good luck.

"Let me know when you finish running them down."

"What?" Zack squawked. "Aren't you helping?"

"_You_ got the dragons into this …" Angeal stooped to pick up and dispose of the remaining candy and wrappers. He couldn't believe Zack had been carrying this much _junk_. "_You_ can get them out."

* * *

><p>It took a full hour and a half to settle the dragons back down – or rather, to get them settled down to their normal morning levels of energy, which were still quite high.<p>

At first, the dragons had repeatedly doubled back to the clearing, collectively deciding that this whole thing was a grand game, and the point was to make off with as much additional candy as possible. Zack's futile efforts in thwarting them seemed only to have the opposite effect; whenever he'd come close to cornering one, another would race right past him and snag yet another snack, avoiding Angeal's own attempts to smack them away.

Finally, Zack wised up and snatched a candy bar of his own, taking off running in a bid to draw them all away from the mess in order to allow Angeal to finish getting rid of it. The ploy worked. As soon as the dragons realized he wasn't coming back, they dug their claws into the dirt and sped after him.

Zack was fast, but the little dragons were faster. He was a fair distance from the rest site by the time they caught up, however, but when they did, he had to move quickly to avoid their joint tackle.

A growl from Seph alerted him first; he ducked in time for the dragon to sail over his head. A vertical hop pulled his legs out of range of Ness's snapping to his ankles, and a failed roll to the side let him dodge Kiran's tackle to his midsection, leaving him sprawling in the dirt. As one, the dragons quickly returned to snatch the chocolate from his hand, but he pulled away, leaping to his feet. Laughing, he began a game of keep-away, the insistent creatures lunging for the treat.

The roughhousing lasted for quite a while. Zack hid the chocolate away in a pocket, and the dragons, growing increasingly frustrated at not succeeding in capturing their prize, finally backed off. Zack, having been knocked to the ground, sat up, lungs heaving as he tried to catch his breath. The little dragons stood before him, various expectant expressions on their faces as they panted heavily. Ness removed her paws from his chest, sat down, fixing him with a plaintive stare, and whined pathetically.

Zack held up his hands. "Hey, don't try that on me! You've already eaten most of the candy I had! Besides, I'm immune." Glancing to the right and left, he then leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "But Angeal isn't!"

At the mention of his mentor, they all looked back the way they'd come to see where he was, the dragons craning their necks around. It looked like the SOLDIER was a good mile away, and coming toward them. He shouldered both packs, obviously deciding that it was better to continue in Zack's direction than expect him to shepherd all the dragons back. Zack frowned slightly, a bit put out that he wasn't even going to be given a chance at returning. Then he shrugged to himself. Angeal did have a point. There was no use in retracing old ground.

A chirp from Kiran drew his attention. The other dragons turned to stare intently at her. A long, low whistle stood their ears up, and drew a bark from Seph. There was an answering series of chirps, then the dragons abruptly split, Kiran and Ness heading down into the brush on one side of Zack, and Seph disappearing on the other. Zack stared after them, bewildered.

"… Kiran! Seph? What'd I miss?"

There was only an answering rustle from the bushes.

Zack sighed. He stood, brushing off his pants, then waved to his mentor in the distance. Without a pause in his stride, the First returned the gesture. The boy then turned his attention to the bushes. He considered them for a moment, planting fists on his hips. Then he shook his head.

"I dunno what you guys've got planned, but something tells me you're still after this candy bar. Well, you're just gonna hafta keep up if you want it!"

With that, he broke into a brisk stride in the same direction he'd been going. The bushes to either side of him rustled as he passed.

* * *

><p>It soon became apparent that the dragons were stalking him.<p>

At first, they were not very subtle about it. The rustlings and patterings off the trail beside him were obvious, even if he couldn't see them. They stopped when he stopped and started when he started. They grew bold and careless when he pretended to ignore them and whistle a tune, and then he would catch dark glimpses of them darting between rocks or behind craggy trees. Just for fun, he'd spring upon one whenever he saw it, only for the little dragon to dart away and hide again.

They were very good at hiding.

Angeal was still some distance behind them, and, as Zack continued his unhurried mosey, the dragons seemed to be getting better at hiding their footsteps. There were several times he'd whip around, certain he'd heard one sneaking up on him, only for the sound to vanish, with nothing left behind but a suspiciously swaying branch or falling pebble to indicate that anything had been there.

Zack hummed thoughtfully, eyes examining the cover to either side of the trail.

Everything was silent, save the wind.

Abruptly, he spun and ran. There was a long moment, and then a cacophony of crashes bounded along behind him, hurrying to catch up. The shrubbery shook wildly.

Zack felt a grin spread along his face, and he couldn't help the laughter bubbling up. He could hear as they gave up all pretense of stealth and leapt back onto the rocky path, claws scrabbling along in the dirt and pebbles. He felt them getting closer and redoubled his efforts, pumping as much speed into his legs as he could manage.

Up ahead, he spied a sudden end to the trail; the ground gave way in a steep downward plunge. He'd have to catch them there. Wringing out a last second of speed, he leapt into the air, twisting around, then came down, knees bent to absorb the shock. Digging the edges of his boots into the ground, he skidded to a stop at the top of the slope. Eyes locking onto Kiran and Ness enthusiastically bounding after him, he braced for the impact.

_Kiran and Ness …_ Then where was Seph …?

A flicker of movement from the corner of his eye was his only warning. Wholly unexpectedly, something large and dark struck his midsection, knocking the wind out of him. His right foot shot backward for balance, as his arms came up to belatedly catch the little black dragon.

For an instant, everything was fine. Then the ground beneath his foot crumbled.

Suddenly thrown off balance, he fell backward. He threw out an arm to catch himself, but there was no ground where he expected it to be. The sky rotated into view, filling his vision.

_Aw, heck …_

Training had him tucking his head down to his chest and tightening his arms around Seph just as his shoulder blades struck the falling surface of the slope. He barely had time to register the blow before he was tumbling around and around, and there was dragon fur in his nose and sharp claws digging into his chest, and delicate wing membrane fluttering against his arms. He felt hard gravel grinding against his shoulders and knees, and took a brief moment to wonder whether he'd plunge off a cliff, sparing a frantic thought of worry for the dragon.

Then the slope gentled, leveling out, and the rocks became grass, and he rolled a few more times before sprawling out onto his back and sliding the last few feet to a rest. He took a breath … and was assaulted by a horrendous series of sneezes as his nose tried to rid itself of dragon fur.

The fit passed, and he flopped back to the ground, groaning. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

The gray clouds above him were bright. They drifted quickly on distant currents. Soft grass brushed his cheek, tickled his ear. He sniffed, let out the breath.

"… Seph?" Propping himself up, he craned his neck to gaze down at the little dragon in concern. "Are you okay?"

The dragon stirred and raised his head. He blinked emerald eyes at the boy, then shifted, shaking out first one wing, then the other, and refolding them. Almost indignantly, he pried four sets of little claws from Zack's sweater, one after the other, making the boy wince, and settled back down upon his stomach. Two shadows cast by outstretched wings passed over the Third, and a thump to either side of him announced Ness and Kiran having glided to an easy landing. Seph glared at them, unimpressed. They whistled inquisitively at him. He responded with a grumble and a yawn, and an imperious shifting of weight.

Zack pouted at him. "This is your fault, you know. And if Angeal thinks we're all dead because you knocked me over a cliff, _that's_ gonna be your fault too."

The dragon rumbled at him.

"Doesn't matter if he didn't see us. It's still your fault! I mean, look at me, do you think I had _fun_ rolling down a gravelly old hill?"

Seph raised his head and turned it to the side, glaring down at him from the corner of his eye, as if to say that Zack might very well have enjoyed it, and he was in no way going to admit responsibility for something so ungainly as tumbling down a hill.

Zack returned the glare, frowning.

The staring contest lasted for all of two minutes, until, all at once, the little dragon dropped his head between his paws, raising plaintive green eyes to meet Zack's. He began to nibble apologetically on the boy's sweater.

When Zack refused to give in, the dragon took a breath and let it out in a low whine, nibbling more aggressively.

Zack rolled his eyes. "Oh, all right. I forgive you. Stop it, already. Ow!" Zack jerked as Seph inadvertently caught some skin between his teeth. "Hey! Stop that!" He reached up to shove the dragon's head away from his shirt.

The dragon tugged insistently at the fabric in defiance of Zack's efforts, then let go, instead latching on to one of his hands. He thumped his tail once, then laid his head down on Zack's chest, not letting go.

Zack let out a long sigh. "_Fine._" A grin tugged at his lips. He pulled gently back and forth on the little dragon's teeth a few times, then gave it a rest. Letting his head loll back into the grass, he brought his free arm up as a pillow. "You're …" he paused, searching for the right word, "… _insufferable_."

The grin blossomed fully as he felt an answering tug on his hand. Seph curled his feet up close and began to purr, the vibrations rumbling through Zack's chest. Kiran, the little sweetheart that she was, nuzzled his cheek, making him grin wider. She settled down, warm against his neck and shoulder. As he felt Ness press up against his side, chirping to Kiran and Seph, he closed his eyes in contentment, waiting for Angeal to catch up to them.

* * *

><p>He was nudged awake by a boot digging gently into his ribs. Blinking his eyes open, he squinted against the sky, gaze landing on the familiar silhouette of his mentor. Kiran peered down at him from the man's shoulder. It took a moment, but Zack finally recognized the frown on Angeal's face, deeper than usual, and the crease between his brows.<p>

_Oops._

He pulled out the stalk of grass he'd been worrying between his teeth before he fell asleep and propped himself up on his elbows. "Hey, Angeal!" He grinned nervously, his boot thumping down from where he'd crossed one leg over a knee. "… Uh … it's not what it looks like, I swear!"

"Oh?" The First circled around him. "And what does it look like?"

Zack swallowed, following his mentor with his eyes. The man was keeping his tone carefully neutral. Zack hated when he did that – he couldn't be entirely sure what he was thinking.

"Umm …" How long had he been asleep? It couldn't have been _that_ long, just several minutes for Angeal to have reached the slope and spied him at the bottom of it. He hadn't _meant_ to be asleep when Angeal found him; it just sort of happened. The dragons must've worn him out more than he thought, especially since he hadn't been able to catch his usual noontime snooze, what with the sugar incident and all. "Well, I wasn't sleeping on the job, you know, even if it totally looked like it. Unless you thought it looked like I'd fallen down the hill, which I kind of did, but that wasn't my fault _at all_, that was _all_ Seph's fault, so I hope you weren't worried or anything! Because I'm fine, and I really didn't mean to fall asleep and make it look like I wasn't …"

Angeal grunted, turning away. Zack was unable to catch his expression due to the contrast with the sky, so he rolled to his feet, Seph hopping off his stomach to look inquisitively up at the two SOLDIERs. Zack quickly brushed dirt and gravel from his knees and arms, only to wince when his hands came in contact with his bare shoulders. He glanced down. His shoulders and upper arms were scraped and raw, having suffered a nasty skinning on the way down the hill. They stung; his fingers came away bloody. He grimaced, suddenly realizing what this might have looked like to Angeal from the top of the hill.

"… A-Angeal, I-"

"It's fine, Zack." His mentor sighed, finally turning to face him. The man's eyes held a lingering echo of concern, but his voice betrayed annoyance. "I figured your rather carefree sprawl was more indicative of a careless snooze than someone who'd dashed his brains out falling down a rocky incline." His eyes scanned his student, mouth twisting wryly. "Even if it looks like you low crawled through barbed wire and came out the losing end."

Zack sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh … I really am sorry, Angeal." He shrugged helplessly. "I meant to be up when you started coming down the slope …"

Angeal simply shook his head. He tossed the boy a materia. "Cure yourself up. Level one. We still have a ways to go today."

Zack caught the magic stone, turning it about in his hands for a moment, before slotting it into his bracer and activating it. He still wasn't very proficient with materia, and defense magic was something different from just about everything. It took several moments for his mind to wrap itself around the unfamiliar spell, like gathering lilies from a wide, gentle stream, before he was finally able to cast it. It felt shaky, but sure enough, the recognizable, soothing wash of the Restore swept over him, banishing the throbbing of his shoulders. The higher levels of Cura and Curaga lingered like a vast, forbidden ocean on the edge of his consciousness.

Angeal nodded in approval. "Good. Let's go."

Dutifully, Zack followed, Ness and Seph trailing along behind, excess energy having finally run out. He examined the set of his mentor's shoulders, feeling like he'd disappointed the First. Zack bit his lip, then hesitantly drew up alongside the man.

"… So, uh … you're not … mad at me, are you?" His voice was subdued, and he kept his head lowered, peeking up at Angeal through his bangs.

The First glanced sidelong at him, did a double-take. At the woeful expression, he rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. Gaia, his student was doing it to him again with those puppy-dog eyes. He wondered if the boy even realized it.

"No, Zack … I'm not. I just wish you would be more aware of your responsibilities. I worry enough without you bringing it upon me needlessly." He thought back to the stab of concern he'd felt upon arriving at the crest of the hill, looking for his wayward student, and finding the boy at the bottom. He'd quickly taken in Zack's relaxed lounge, however, and banished the concern with mixed relief and annoyance. Unwelcome 'what-if' scenarios still plagued his mind, though, and only added to the aggravation until he was able to make it down the hill. Mentally, he berated himself – again, he worried too much.

_Distance yourself, Angeal. Distance yourself._

"… Oh. Right …" Zack sounded glum; Angeal could tell the answer hadn't reassured him. "Sorry, Ang-"

"No need to apologize again, Zack." He waved it away. "It was a mistake. No harm done."

"Right." Zack nodded. "Sorr-"

"Ah!" Angeal raised a finger, turning to face him.

Zack opened his mouth, obviously meaning to apologize again, then forcefully clamped it shut. He fidgeted.

Angeal's lips twitched, and he chuckled. Reaching out, he impulsively ruffled his student's hair, turning back to the walk. With a grin, Zack hopped back to his side. Suddenly all was well again.

_So much for distance._

"Sooo …" Zack gave his mentor a mischievous look, prompting a raised eyebrow. "Wanna race?" Without waiting for a response, Zack took off through the grass. The dragons, stirred up by the action, belatedly scampered after him.

Angeal impassively watched his student's retreating back. _I really shouldn't … _Yet, he found his feet picking up the pace. _Then again, maybe it's time I show him just what a First can do._

By the time Zack registered the situation to voice a protest, Angeal was already several yards ahead and rapidly leaving the boy in the dust.

* * *

><p>The wind had picked up, sending waves across the large, grassy clearing, the green of the field beginning to fade with the turning of the seasons. The clouds had parted slightly to the west, allowing late golden sunlight to spear through the rift, flooding the small valley with dramatic orange lighting and enriching both colors and shadows. The sky to the east seemed ever darker for it.<p>

Angeal was left with an uneasy feeling. He watched the moving clouds, hanging low in the sky.

Zack was unaware of his disquiet, however. He brushed through the thigh-high grass, letting his hands drift across the tops of the stalks. He breathed deeply, enjoying the wind and the earthy smell it brought, reveling in the small bit of sun. It glared at the edge of his vision, painting both SOLDIERs in liquid gold, and throwing their shadows over the swaying grass. The three dragons bounded along behind them, emerald and frost and obsidian.

"Zack." The warning note in his mentor's voice made the boy look up. Angeal's eyes were glued to the sky before them. Zack followed his gaze.

The dark clouds churned, ominous and threatening, despite the sunlight. Flickers of pale light brightened one area of the clouds, as if lightning flashing somewhere within. Angeal frowned.

Zack gazed with interest, vision flicking from the sky to his mentor and back, a bit unsure what was making him so edgy. "… A storm? You think we should find shelter?" The clouds were certainly black enough to bring rain, despite the misleading warmth of sunlight angling through them, but it wouldn't be the first storm they'd faced.

The First didn't answer immediately, watching the sky for a few minutes longer. Finally, his pace slowed, and he came to a stop. Wind whipped the golden grass around him; he stood, brightly illuminated by the low angle of the sun, stark against the black sky in the distance. For just a moment, he looked like a marble statue, imposing, larger than life, features and muscles chiseled by the sun. Zack was distinctly reminded of the time he first saw the SOLDIER, when First Class was something lofty and unreachable, and the Generals were legends, something far above the crowds of mere humans like himself.

_ He's so wise and powerful … Will I ever be like him?_ It still seemed unreachable sometimes – there was such a vast gap separating him from Angeal and the other Generals. They were like Titans upon the earth, and in this light, Angeal looked very much like one. Zack's violet eyes gazed at the man in awe. _Someday … I want to be like that._

Then Angeal shifted, and the moment was broken. "Get ready, Zack," he commanded. "We're about to have company."

The young SOLDIER blinked, turning to face the sky again. Puzzled, he opened his mouth. "What do you mean, we're …" He scanned the sky, about to comment that his mentor was seeing things, when his eyes finally alighted on tiny specks, dark against the already black clouds. He blinked, lost them for a moment, blinked again, and found them. How had his mentor even seen the things? And who cared, anyway? They were so far away …

"Needle kiss, a type of mountain-dwelling thunderbird. They're coming this way."

Zack squinted, trying to make out details in the miniscule shapes, but they remained black and formless to him. "How do you even …?" He had trouble sometimes telling one monster from another at close range, let alone _that_ far away when he could barely see them! Was a First's eyesight really that good?

But, sure enough, Angeal was correct … The birds were rapidly approaching, and soon Zack could make out the distinctive shapes and large wingspans of the thunderbird-class monsters. There were three of them. Electric discharges lanced between the birds and the clouds, crackling along their wings.

_Alright! Time for some action._ Zack grinned, pulling his sword off its harness and readying the weapon. He wondered if they'd get close enough to attack. He'd never faced one in reality before.

Angeal watched them warily, uneasiness curdling in his stomach. Needle kisses were at a level that would likely post a challenge to the young Third, but one Angeal was fairly confident Zack could handle. So he was unsure quite why he felt this way. They were large raptors, with wingspans twice as long as he was tall, and wickedly barbed lances crowning their heads that were as long as a standard SOLDIER-issue sword. Zack would need to be careful … but he felt the boy had learned a great deal during their excursion, and would be all right.

Still … He frowned, glancing down to the three dragons at their feet. Two of them were milling around, but Ness, ever the inquisitive one, had latched onto the birds with her sapphire eyes, and was following them across the sky.

_The dragons …_ A sense of urgency gripped him, as the birds swung in their direction. Needle kisses were certainly large enough to go after sizable game and would have no trouble carrying off something like baby dragons … or children. Angeal's eyes landed on Zack.

"… Zack, go. Quickly." He warred with himself, wanting to protect Zack, yet knowing that he couldn't shelter the boy. Needle kisses were an appropriate target for him. Zack would be all right. He would. Angeal knelt, pulling Ness into his arms, who seemed inclined to dart toward the oncoming birds, and hunkered down into the grass. "I'll stay with the dragons." He hoped the raptors hadn't already spotted them, but knew it was likely not the case.

Zack turned, eyes taking in the situation. He nodded. "Don't worry, Angeal! I won't let them get any closer!" With a mock salute, he pivoted and took off toward the birds. Angeal watched, gathering the other two dragons into his arms, as they finally took note of the flying creatures through the tall grass.

With an enthusiastic battle cry, Zack charged up his materia and sent a fireball shooting into the midst of the birds. They saw it coming and swerved to miss it, but it had the attention-grabbing effect the Third was hoping for. Eyeballing this potential new prey, they angled in on him with piercing cries of their own.

Zack spared a moment to consider just how beautiful the needle kisses were. They were majestic, like eagles, but with purple feathers, glittering the color of amethyst in the light. Iridescent blue stripes banded flaring tails, and snow white feathers proudly crowned their heads. Azure masks accented curved golden beaks and bony yellow lances, while long, black talons, three on each foot, glinted as they clutched the air, eager for rending. The raptors were as beautiful as they were deadly.

Without warning, the raptor hanging off to the left folded its wings and dove, the streamlined form aiming its spear-like weapon straight for Zack. But the Third was ready and dove out of the way, effortlessly rolling to his feet and pivoting. The bird recovered, fanning large wings to glide along the ground, but not before Zack struck out, landing a blow to the creature's side. He drew blood. With a shriek, it pumped its wings and took to the sky.

The other two birds dove, one after the other, nearly catching Zack off-guard. He yelped, forced on the defensive, and dodged. Managing to momentarily down one with a reflexive slap to a wing, he dove in to stab the creature. It quickly halted its own tumble, however, and whipped around, swinging the lance on its head. Having forgotten the extra reach the creature possessed, Zack received a gash to his arm; he backpedaled, eyes widening, and brought his sword between them.

The bird opened its beak wide, cocking its head to the side to spear him with amber eyes, and gave him a rasping hiss. Then, with wings raised threateningly, it brought its lance back in line and, talons stomping the ground, lunged forward. Prepared, Zack batted the lance away with his blade. The bird pressed back, struggling against the sword, then, with a swift movement, snagged the blade with a forward-pointing barb. Weapon caught, the bird levered it away and to the side, bearing it down upon Zack's left shoulder. His eyes widened; he struggled to force the blade back. With the lance pinning the sword out of the way, the bird edged its body sideways, closer, intending to spring upon Zack with its talons. Its beak _clacked_ in anticipation, eyes locked on its target.

The SOLDIER gripped the hilt tightly. Recognizing the danger of the talons, his mind raced, and he latched onto a risky idea. Freeing his right hand from its grip, he swung it toward the bird, throwing a fireball at it. At the same instant, losing leverage on the blade, the weapon slammed into his shoulder, striking the pauldron with a loud _clang_. Zack tumbled backward; the bird shrieked.

Rolling once more to his feet, Zack saw the needle kiss writhing on the ground, wing in flames. The fire rapidly engulfed the screaming bird, and began to lick along the tall grass. Zack hoped the grass was too wet for it to catch, and turned back to the other two birds.

Before he could raise his sword, however, something struck him from behind. Pain speared into his upper left arm, something heavy punched his right pauldron, and, before he had a chance to tumble forward, he was suddenly lifted from the ground. He let out a startled shout.

Swinging his legs wildly, he cast about, eyes landing on the large, feathered body of one of the needle kisses right above him. It had latched onto his arm and pauldron, the straps of the armor digging into his armpit as he hung from it. He swung in the air as the raptor beat heavy wings around him; the ground fell away, and his heart leapt into his throat.

"Zack!"

Angeal nearly bolted from his spot then, horrified by visions of the monsters snatching Zack away to a distant place he couldn't reach. He watched as Zack swung his sword wildly in panic, unable to use his left arm for the secure grip on it. Then the boy seemed to get a hold of himself, stabbing upward. It was impossible to tell what kind of blow he landed, but it was enough to get the raptor to let go, with a screech. Zack plummeted to the ground. Angeal lost him in the grass as he rolled.

Frightened, turning onto his back, Zack peered upward at the circling birds, almost lazy in the way they glided, talons hanging and loose instead of tucked up tight, as if simply waiting to drop down upon a perch. He was reminded of a pair of hang gliders he once saw riding the hot, shimmering air currents in the wastelands of Midgar.

Unable to slow the beating of his heart, he threw up a hand, launching several more fireballs into the air. But, unfocused, they only singed the tail of one of the creatures. However, it did get them chattering, high-pitched, in anger, and they soared upward, gaining altitude. Jaw locked tight from fear, Zack leapt to his feet, following them with more Fire. _That was close. That was too close!_

The birds circled higher; Zack watched them, tense. He could hear their vocalizations, calling to each other. Readying his sword once more and ignoring the pain in his arm, he braced for another dive.

Instead, one of them, the one Zack had bloodied in his wild swing, spread its wings wide, and electricity began to crackle along the feathers. The Third's eyes widened, realizing what was coming. Immediately, he reached for the forgotten-until-now Barrier materia in his bracer, activating it and casting the spell. Successful, the Barrier shimmered overhead. He grinned.

Angeal cursed.

The Barrier was not resistant to magical attacks.

The needle kiss angled its bony weapon downward, pointing directly at Zack. The energy, having built up along its crown, speared toward him. It reached the tip of his sword, danced along it. There was no time for Zack to register his mistake.

He screamed.

The lightning caught him in an unforgiving grip, coursing excruciatingly along his nerves, seizing his muscles. It was the worst pain he'd ever felt in his life, _and oh, he wanted to let go of the sword, Gaia, he wanted to let go, but he couldn't, and he was on fire, and it was _never going to end_ …!_

And then it was over, and Angeal could finally tell his own screams from Zack's. The boy was slumping bonelessly to the ground, and the dragons were screaming, too, and clawing frantically at his arms to get free.

One of them did.

"Seph, no!"

The little black dragon bolted, sprinting for Zack and the raptors, snarling in fury.

"Seph! _Damnit!_" Angeal cursed, wrestling with the other two. He wanted nothing more than to go to his student, but he _couldn't_, because he had to keep the dragons away from the birds, keep them safe. "Zack! _Zack!_" The needle kiss's Thunder attack was powerful, but one hit wasn't deadly, so it couldn't have … Sure enough, Angeal watched as Zack stirred, shoulders and the back of his head appearing through the grass as he unsteadily pushed himself away from the ground. "Damnit, Zack, _get up_!

_Get up …_ Dimly, Zack thought he heard the voice of his mentor through the roaring in his ears. _I'm trying, Angeal. I'm doing my best …_ He rose to his knees, one hand still closed painfully around his sword.

"Zack! Grab Seph!"

_Seph?_

Angeal watched, adrenaline pumping, as Zack, somehow, stumbled to his feet just in time to throw his arms around the little dragon and collapse back to the ground before it could launch itself against the raptors. One of the birds, keying in on the smaller, easier target, shrieked and dove for Zack's unprotected back.

A ferocious growl and savage bite to Angeal's wrist from Kiran surprised him enough to loosen his grip and let her go. It was all he could do to keep Ness from following suit.

"No, _Kiran_!"

Zack, sensing the danger behind him, rolled over, arm locked tightly around Seph, and blindly swung his blade. It cut through the needle kiss about to plunge its talons into him, spearing straight through. The bird's momentum carried it to the hilt; Zack's arm buckled, unable to hold the weight, and he was forced to turn his head to the side to avoid the bird's own lance spearing into the dirt. The creature landed heavily; immediately, Seph squirmed around and sunk his fangs into its neck, knocking it off Zack. They thumped to the side, tearing the sword from his grip.

He turned his bleary gaze back to the sky in time to see the last needle kiss hovering there, iridescent feathers illuminated by the golden sun and white electricity buzzing along its outline. Zack raised a heavy hand, tapping once more into his Fire materia. He knew what was coming, and wasn't sure he'd stop it in time.

Suddenly, the bird turned, catching sight of something to the side, out of Zack's view. Then he saw it: the little frosty green form of Kiran, beating her wings and flying.

_Flying._

She bore a snarl on her face, claws outstretched, as she rocketed toward the raptor.

The bird fanned its own wings, raising talons to meet the oncoming threat. Zack's vision abruptly focused.

There was a tortured scream – an unfamiliar sound in a familiar little voice. The spray of blood through the air glittered like rubies.

"_No!_" The cry was ripped from his throat, and he was shooting to his feet, even as the raptor snatched the little dragon from the sky. Crimson droplets struck his face.

Zack's sword was torn from the heavy body impaled upon it, and he swung it desperately against the needle kiss above him. But it was too high, and none of his swings were even close to making contact.

"_Kiran!_" He raised a hand to pummel the bird with Fire, but couldn't, for Kiran was in the way, and he was afraid of hitting her. "Angeal! _Angeal!_" The boy, at a loss, swung around to face his mentor, anguish in his voice. "_Do something!_"

The First's boots were already flying over the ground. He covered the distance in a moment, but already, the bird was rising on air currents, beating wings to make its retreat, prize clutched tightly in cruel claws. It glance down at them, let loose a wild cry, banked away.

"Do _something_!" Zack cried again. "Angeal, you gotta _do something_! You gotta save her!" His face was a picture of agony, turned upward toward the retreating pair.

Mind racing, Angeal discarded thoughts of using any Attack magic he possessed, for fear of hurting the little dragon. Latching onto his last option, he activated his Jump materia. Dashing forward, he vaulted into the sky.

It was more than enough to bring him upon the needle kiss. The raptor saw him, fanned its tail to pitch away, but was too late. Striking downward in a mighty overhead blow, the First cleaved the bird in two, rocketing back toward the ground. The creature hit the dirt after him.

With a cry, Zack ran for the little dragon, still clutched tightly in the dead raptor's claws. What he saw made him wail again in despair.

The little dragon was limp, wings torn and body broken, impaled by the bird's talons. Carefully, Zack disengaged her from the cruel weapons, sobbing.

"Kiran. _Kiran!_" His voice broke, as he cradled her in his arms. "Wake up! You gotta wake up! You were so brave and wonderful, and you _flew_, Kiran, you flew! So you gotta wake up!"

Angeal approached, heart breaking at his student's voice. It skipped a beat as he saw the torn body of the little dragon.

"Oh, Kiran …" he whispered. The First sunk to his knees before Zack.

The boy gasped, breath shuddering. "She's not doing too well, Angeal." His voice was thick. "We gotta help her!" Tears streaked down his face, mingling with the spatters of blood, but he took no notice, just as he wasn't aware of the precious fluid covering his bare arms and the front of his uniform. "We gotta-" his voice hitched. Then he raised his eyes, and gasped, "The Restore! Where is it? We gotta use it, we can save her …"

Angeal looked at him sadly, opened his mouth to say something, but his student was no longer paying attention to him, having realized that he still possessed the materia. Patting himself down with shaking hands, he found the materia right where he'd left it, in his bracer. Trembling, he concentrated hard, willing it to work. It took a few tries because _damn it, he just couldn't focus!_ – but he finally cast the spell. Eagerly, he watched the green light settle over the battered body.

Nothing happened.

"No …" he breathed. Stubborn, he tried again, and a third time, hand pressing over the materia tightly. "… No! _Work_, you stupid rock! _Do something!_"

Zack's futile efforts brought tears to Angeal's own eyes. He felt his own throat close up. He reached across to lay a heavy hand over Zack's own, misery stinging more acutely as he realized that Zack's gloves were charred and blackened, hands burnt from gripping the sword during the Thunder attack. Yet, Zack gave them no heed. He rested his hand over Zack's, gently. "Zack, it's-"

"_No!_" Zack shoved him away. "She's not d- … She's not …" He gulped. "It's not too late! _Kiran, you better wake up!_" Unable to see anymore for the tears in his eyes, he squeezed his hand, reaching deep into the Restore for the higher, forbidden levels of Cure. _One of those _had_ to work, it just _had to_ …_

But his connection to the materia was rudely severed by a firm hand pulling his own away, and prying the materia out of his bracer. He swayed, dizzy, mind reeling from the lost connection.

"No, Zack." Angeal's voice was firm, though heavy with grief. "She's gone." The strong voice shuddered. "Restore can't bring her back. And I won't let you hurt yourself to try."

Zack raised bright eyes up to him. He stared, at a loss. Then his gaze slowly lowered to the stained, broken body in his arms, and he finally saw the lifelessness there, the still form once so vibrant with heart and energy. Slowly, he lifted an injured hand to, ever so gently, stroke a thumb along her cheek. "Kiran …" he whispered. "… Why'd you do it?" He would never again get to see her intelligent, beautiful golden eyes. He stared at the red he inadvertently streaked across her once flawless face.

Seph ambled over, followed by Ness. He sat down, staring at the form of his playmate, so still and strange to him. He nudged her, chirping questioningly. When she didn't respond, he whistled insistently and nudged again, then pulled on her ear. Letting go, he allowed her head to loll back to its previous position. He blinked. Then he turned his gaze to Zack, tilting his head, and warbled his question at him. _Why won't she play with me?_

The clouds moved, covering the sun.

Zack fell apart then. Not even Angeal's strong arms were enough to hold him together.

* * *

><p>Charred hands, shaking, set the last, heavy stone upon the cairn. A brisk, chill wind whipped around the solemn figures, and torn gloves did nothing to keep it from nipping exposed fingers. But he didn't care. He had refused all aid until this was finished.<p>

Zack stepped away, footfalls reluctant and heavy. He felt a hand grip his shoulder, in comfort, he supposed, before Angeal moved forward to take his place. He shivered, the sleeveless uniform leaving him exposed to the gray cold. Again, he didn't care. He stared at the newly built landmark and curled his hands into fists. He felt numb.

They'd carried Kiran's body out of the field, away from the carnage, and up an incline to the rocky summit of a hill. The ground fell away steeply before them; he could see the ridgeline in the distance and the trees, below, parading further downward into a deep valley. But here, there was no vegetation. All was cold and colorless.

A mastered Fire brightened to life in Angeal's bracer; he focused the energy upon the mound, sweeping superheated flames across the rocks. The sudden wash of heat and light overwhelmed the watching Third, and Zack briefly looked away, with another shudder. When Angeal finished, the rocks had melted, running together to form a barrier impenetrable to other wildlife. Kiran would be safe.

Angeal returned, coming to stand beside Zack. They watched the molten stone cool; rising heat caused the overcast sky to shimmer. No words were spoken.

Eventually, Zack felt tears sting his eyes again, and his vision blurred. Wordlessly, he turned away from the cairn to the First beside him. Face twisting in misery, he rested his forehead against his mentor's chest. His breath seized as he fought against the sobs. Without hesitation, Angeal's arms encircled him; he felt the man drape a winter coat around him, sheltering him from the chill. Then the arms held him tightly, one hand on the back of his head, as Angeal tucked him under his chin. It was suddenly warm and dark, and he wished the rest of the world would just go away.

Angeal held his shuddering student close, taking a deep breath to control his own unsteady breathing. Unlooked for, a single tear slid down his face, his grief a combination of his student's and his own in the loss of his little midnight friend. He shut his eyes, bowing his head.

_Kiran …_ She had sacrificed herself to save Zack. Angeal lifted his gaze to the cairn. _Thank you, my little friend. What you have given me is more than I could ever ask for._ He tightened his grip upon his student. _I just wish I was given the chance to repay you._

His eyes drifted down to the remaining two dragons. They were quiet, gazes shifting between the burial mound and the two SOLDIERs. Angeal wondered just how much they understood.

He allowed his student a few more minutes, then slowly, gently, turned him away from the small grave. Calling the dragons to him, he pressed Seph into Zack's arms, picked up Ness, and shepherded them away. The little black dragon, still for the first time in his life, did not protest when Zack hugged him close. He twisted only to rest his head on the boy's shoulder and peer back at the smooth stone with uncertain, questioning eyes.

They left the gray cliff top, the only indication of their presence the small, unmarked grave, alone in the wilderness.

* * *

><p><strong>End Part V<strong>


	6. Return

**Author's Notes: **First of all, thank you to **gryphon icefire 98**! In a review, Gryphon composed an ode to Kiran, which was completely unexpected and amazing. It perfectly expresses just how I think Angeal felt about the little dragon. Thank you so much! You totally blew me away - I am so honored that you felt enough to compose something like that. I ask that everyone go take a look at it - it's the perfect complement to Chapter 5. I would link to it here, if I could, but I don't know if there's a way to link to a specific review. So I ask that everyone take a quick look at the reviews to find it! It's easy to spot as the longest one there.

Gryphon, to upload the pictures, I think taking a photo isn't too bad, but if you can find access to a scanner, perhaps at a library, that might work the best! There are numerous sites you could upload them to - if you plan to do more art in general, DeviantArt or Live Journal is a good choice, or you could go with a regular picture-hosting website. Thank you again!

This is it! The last chapter. It really took quite a while to work through this - I wanted to make sure I got the scenes just right. As the ending, especially for this fic, it had to end on just the right note. I hope it meets everyone's expectations! I think it finally meets mine. I really feel accomplished with this done. :) Oh yes, and it's quite a bit longer than the others. Hope no one minds. ;)

This may be all I upload for a while, since I will be moving next month. But stay tuned for future projects: the next FF7/Star Wars crossover chapter (Distant Worlds, Broken Souls), the next installment in the FF7 Detective verse, and who knows what else!

And now, the conclusion. Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Part VI: Return<strong>

In the weeks following Kiran's death, Zack became more and more withdrawn. He was quieter than usual, uncharacteristically subdued. It was clear he blamed himself for the little dragon's death, and, for once, Angeal wasn't sure what he could say that would make the boy feel better.

Angeal knew it wasn't Zack's fault; in fact, he held _himself_ responsible. He'd been the one to let Kiran go, inadvertently or not, and he'd also been the one to send Zack to hold off and defeat the birds. It was supposed to be just another exercise – granted the stakes were higher because of the dragons, but they'd faced other monsters with the dragons around before; there'd been no way to predict that things would go so badly this time. _I should have gone myself. _But if he expressed his regret at sending Zack into battle instead of himself, it would only further Zack's belief that he just hadn't been good enough, cementing the boy's guilt.

_What a conundrum …_ Angeal was doing a wonderful job of repeatedly failing his student. And now he didn't know what he could possibly do to make it better.

Those first few days had been the worst, both for him and for Zack. They both missed Kiran, and it hurt Angeal's heart to see his student so upset. There wasn't anything they did or saw that wouldn't remind Zack of her. Especially when the other two dragons were involved. It hurt just to watch them, to see them so lost … They clearly expected Kiran to appear at some point, constantly stopping to look back the way they'd come, wondering where she was, why she wasn't coming, and why they'd left her behind.

Angeal wondered if Zack would ever get angry with the little dragons for holding them up. But he never did. In a way, Angeal might have preferred it. Zack was too quiet.

Oh, the young Third made a show of making an effort to come to terms with things and move on, after those first few days. But his cheerfulness was forced. He didn't chatter quite as much as he used to, and though he didn't drag his feet, that spring in his step was gone, which amounted to dragging his feet as far as Angeal was concerned. But he just shrugged it off whenever it was brought up.

Angeal never thought he'd ever find himself missing his student's chatter.

The First was sure that Zack's behavior was affecting the dragons, too … or perhaps they were affecting each other. Seph and Ness had become more reserved themselves – Ness, though still eyeing things curiously, would no longer strike out to investigate beyond a line of sight with the SOLDIERs. And Seph had completely ceased his ambushes against other animals. He'd practically glued himself to Zack. If not riding his shoulders, Seph would follow close on his heels. Rustlings in the bushes would send him trotting behind Zack's legs – not hurriedly, but very deliberately – and he clearly avoided any other creature that stumbled into their path. Angeal had to wonder, but … it was almost as if he was _afraid_.

It was all … incredibly sad, Angeal thought. He'd often wished for his student and the dragons to stay in line and behave … but not like this. _Never_ like this.

They all seemed to have lost a part of their spirit. And Angeal didn't know what he needed to do to fix it.

_My friend, do you think you can fix everything? One day, Angeal the Great Peacemaker will finally be at a loss, and what then? Sometimes things do not want to be fixed._

Genesis's words came to him at one point, and he had to banish them in irritation. Clearly this was not a situation that did not "want to be fixed." But how _could_ it be? Perhaps he truly was at a loss. Perhaps he truly could not fix everything.

He'd steered them away from monster encounters, worried, not so much about a repeat of what had happened before, but about Zack and his ability to focus in battle. He didn't want to be unfair to the boy, didn't want to push him when he was still grieving. They still sparred in the evenings, so Zack's training wouldn't suffer, and he did well enough in that.

Angeal just … didn't know what else he could do. For once, all his wisdom seemed to be failing him.

* * *

><p>They listened to the harsh drumming of the rain on the needles overhead. They'd been caught in a passing storm, and Angeal had hoped to wait it out beneath a nearby pine. Unfortunately, the pine was a little small, and, though it helped to keep the worst of the downpour from beating upon them, the falling water from the needles was doing a good job of getting them soaked, regardless. Angeal was seriously considering giving in and setting up their tents. It was several hours yet until nightfall, and he'd hoped that the storm would be moving along quicker than this, so they might still have a chance at covering several extra miles that day. But it didn't look like they'd get relief anytime soon.<p>

Zack was huddled underneath Angeal's arm, the two dragons curled tightly around the both of them. It seemed they didn't like to get wet either, at least if it was not of their own volition. Angeal regarded his student.

He was surprised the boy hadn't pulled away by now. Zack wasn't usually this … clingy. Zack loved his hugs, of course – it had been one of the first things Angeal discovered about the boy – but he actually tried to keep it to a minimum in trying to fit in with the other soldiers. He didn't want to make anyone else uncomfortable. Besides, it just wasn't "manly." No one ever saw the Great General Sephiroth hugging anyone, did they?

But Zack seemed to forget all that when he was upset. He'd spent more time with Angeal's arm around him in the past two weeks than in the entire two months they'd been on their excursion. Though he'd made a show of being perfectly fine during the day, almost aloof – a front Angeal could see right through – in the evening, he'd bed down close to his mentor, never pulling away like usual whenever Angeal would ruffle his hair or, sensing the boy's melancholy, casually drape an arm around his shoulders as he wrote in his journal. Angeal had the impression that Zack would be perfectly content burrowing into his arms and staying there – wished for it, even.

Zack, who would once have jumped about in the rain, looked thoroughly miserable. From this angle, Angeal had a good view of his black spikes, making an admirable attempt at defying the rain. But even they had wilted, locks plastered about the boy's neck and face, bangs dripping steadily onto his uniform. Eyes downcast, there was not a smile to be found. He looked every inch a bedraggled, half-drowned puppy.

_Poor kid._

Zack shifted. "… You say somethin', Angeal?"

The First raised an eyebrow. Had he said that out loud? He cleared his throat. "I said … what are you thinking about, kid?"

Zack was quiet a long moment, then shrugged. "Nothin'." His voice was subdued.

Angeal grunted. "Is that so?" He kept his own voice light, trying to draw Zack out. "Your expression doesn't say 'nothing.'" He leaned forward a little to better see Zack's face.

In response, Zack simply turned his head away. "Just waitin' for the rain to end, is all." He shivered, unconsciously pressed a little closer to his mentor.

Angeal sighed, leaning back against the tree. "What do you say to setting up the tents?"

Another shrug. "I don't care."

"… Why don't you take the dragons out and play, then?" the First suggested, trying another tack. "I know how much you usually enjoy the rain. Despite the mess you always get into."

Again, a shrug. "Don't feel like it."

Angeal frowned. The rain was having an unusually negative effect on Zack's mood. "Would you like-"

"Look, what do you want from me?" the Third finally snapped in irritation. "Do you want me to get up and go? Then just say so." Scowling, he made an attempt to stand. Angeal's arm tightened around him.

"I didn't say that."

Zack squawked and wrestled with his arm. "What're you doing? Let me go!"

"Why? I thought you didn't want to get up."

"I changed my mind! Get off!" Angeal remained immovable, not appearing to exert any effort in keeping Zack down.

"What are you going to do?"

"I dunno! Somethin'!"

"That doesn't sound like any reason to get up. You'll get wet."

"I'm _already_ wet! An-_geaaaal_!" Zack wailed, pushing futilely at the restraining arm. "What d'you _want_ from me!"

"I don't want anything from you. I was just trying to have a conversation."

"Argh!" Zack finally gave up, slumping back and glowering at the rain puddling on the ground. "About _what_?" he demanded.

This was it. Time for Angeal to address everything that had been bothering Zack, even though he didn't yet know what he would say. It was now or never.

"About _you_. And Kiran and the dragons, and why you think it's _your_ fault that she's dead." There. Blunt and to the point.

Zack froze, staring at his mentor in shock. "… W-Wha …" He swallowed. "That's … What makes you think I'm blaming _myself_ for it?" Quickly, he looked away.

"Because you _are_, Zack. It's obvious."

Zack shook his head. "I'm _fine_."

"No. You're _not_ fine." Angeal continued, cutting off another protest from the boy. "Don't you think I would know you by now? You're not exactly _Sephiroth_. We've been training together for eight months, spending almost two months of that constantly in each other's company. You no longer do the things you like to do. Your play with the dragons is only half-hearted. Your cheerfulness is a lie. Ah!" he raised a finger to Zack's objection. "Don't give me that, you know it's true. I can see right through you."

Zack stared at him, at a loss. Angeal watched emotions war across his face – denial, irritation, anger … He prepared himself for another outburst. However, quite unexpectedly, Zack's face scrunched up in misery, and he lowered his head, butting into his mentor's chest with a small note of sadness.

"It _is_ my fault, Angeal." His voice came out muffled by Angeal's shirt. "If I hadn't been so _stupid_ and _incompetent_, Kiran would still be alive! I might as well have killed her myself."

"… Zack …" Angeal brought a hand up to Zack's hair, running fingers through the boy's spikes in comfort. "Come now. That isn't true, and you know it," he said, gently.

"It _is_ true! If I'd just fought better … If I'd paid more attention, if I knew what I was doing and didn't forget about that stupid Barrier …"

"Zack-"

"Then I wouldn't have gotten myself fried, and I would've been ready when the dragons came! I would've kept them both away, or defeated the birds in time, or maybe they wouldn't've come in the first place if I hadn't been _dumb_ enough to get myself fried …" His voice thickened.

"I understand why you would think that, Zack, but that doesn't mean it's your fault. It might have-"

"Yes it _does_!" Zack pounded his mentor's chests with his fists, looking up with angry, tear-filled eyes. "Why _else_ would the dragons have run out there? It was because I _messed up_! Just _say_ it, Angeal. You know it's true."

Angeal sighed, heart heavy. What could he say to convince the boy otherwise? "Zack … Kiran chose her own fate." He looked the boy in the eyes. "Something she might have done regardless of whether you'd gotten hurt, if not now, then at some point in the future."

"Then I'm a pretty pathetic SOLDIER if I gotta be rescued by a _baby dragon_, and I can't even keep her from getting killed!" he wailed. "It should've been _me_ instead, because she didn't deserve it, _and I did_!"

Angeal frowned. "Zackary Fair," he scolded, sharply. "Do not _ever_ say that again, do you understand me?" He gave the boy a shake. "I am not training you so that you can throw your life away. I regret Kiran's death, but I _do not_ regret the outcome of it, and I am sure Kiran does not, either."

Zack gulped, eyes wide. Rain and tears mingled and streaked down his face.

"Kiran loved you, Zack. And one of the problems with her, as with any of the dragons, is that they would have inevitably attempted something like this, at some point. It was just a matter of time. I regret that it had to happen at all, and that it was so unexpected and tragic. If anything, I should be the one to blame for not keeping a tighter hold on the dragons."

Slowly, Zack's eyes lowered, and he buried his face in his mentor's chest again, gripping his shirt. "But it wasn't your fault, Angeal. No one can hold onto the dragons when they don't want to be held! I just wish … I wish it'd been _you_ out there, instead of me. _You_ would've kept them alive."

Angeal's chest rose and fell with another sigh, as he went back to stroking his student's hair. "… While I do wish I had gone, Zack … it's only because I would have wanted to spare you this grief. Not because I think it was your fault in any way, that you hadn't been good enough, or because I think I could have done better. You did the best you possibly could, and I don't regret any of it. You shouldn't either."

Zack sniffed. "B-but I … I _killed_ her, Angeal."

"No. The needle kiss killed her."

"It's my fault then! It has to be _someone's_ fault, doesn't it?"

Angeal shook his head. "It doesn't have to be _anyone's_ fault."

Zack made a miserable sound. "… That still doesn't make me feel better."

"I know, kiddo." The First had to stop himself from saying _"Pup."_ He rubbed his student's back soothingly. "All things take time. I just don't want you blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault, all right? Kiran didn't give her life for you to be miserable."

Zack choked on his mentor's last sentence, but nodded into his shirt, not trusting himself to speak. Angeal held him for a while longer, rain beating down on the two of them. After several minutes, Seph slithered around, wedging himself between Zack and his mentor, twisted, and latched his mouth onto Zack's hand, forcing the boy to let go of his mentor's shirt. Zack chuckled weakly, head still pillowed on Angeal's shoulder.

"I love you too, Seph."

Seph blinked large green eyes at him, somehow managing a whistle through the hand clutched between his teeth. Ness made a questioning sound at them all. She'd squeezed herself behind Angeal, at the small of his back, to avoid the rain, curling around to rest her head on his leg. Angeal dropped a hand to rub her ears.

"… I've been unfair to them too, haven't I, Angeal?"

The First blinked, surprised. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, look at them! They haven't been themselves, either. Especially Seph."

Angeal hummed; Zack listened to the sound rumble through his ear. "… Yes and no. I will agree that they're probably picking up on your moodiness, but they don't understand, and they're missing Kiran, too."

"I'm just failing everybody," Zack mumbled into Angeal's shirt.

Angeal frowned, catching the words. "_Zack._"

Zack didn't reply, hiding his face.

The First sighed, yet again. "I don't expect you to act something you're not, Zack. If you're unhappy, _be_ unhappy. Putting on a cheerful face doesn't help anyone when you're so miserable. I just don't want you blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault." When Zack still didn't respond, Angeal continued. "You trust me, right?"

Zack frowned. "Yeah, 'course I do, Angeal."

"And you know that I have no reservations about holding you responsible for your actions?"

A swallow. "Yeah …"

"Then trust me when I say that I, in no way, hold you responsible for what happened to Kiran."

There was a long pause. "… Even though you said that I'm responsible for the dragons if we keep 'em?"

Inwardly, Angeal groaned. _Trust Zack to remember at the _inconvenient_ times …_ "Yes, Zack. This is not the same thing."

For a long while, Zack was quiet, thinking about what he'd been told. The rain pattered around them. Then, finally, he stirred.

"… Thanks, Angeal," he whispered. "I wish I … I wish I'd talked to you sooner."

"… Why didn't you?"

Angeal felt the boy shrug. "I dunno, I … just wanted to be strong. I … I'm just trying to be a SOLDIER, Angeal. Like you." Zack's voice was filled with quiet grief.

"Oh, Zack." He tightened his arms around his student. "You _are_ a SOLDIER. It doesn't mean that you need to lock all your feelings away."

"… You're not … disappointed in me?"

"Disappointed?" Angeal chuckled. "Whatever gave you that idea? No, I'm not. You just have a lot to learn, but I could never be disappointed in you." Zack opened his mouth to reply, but Angeal beat him to the punch. "And before you ask, yes, I'm sure, and yes, I promise."

That got a real chuckle out of Zack. "… If you say so, old man."

In response, Angeal squeezed the boy until both he and Seph squeaked in protest.

"Alright, alright, I take it back! You're not _that_ old." Zack pulled away, some of the old glimmer back in his eye. "But you _are_ all wet. I want my tent."

* * *

><p>Things got better after that. Angeal didn't expect Zack to immediately go back to his usual cheerful self, and indeed, when the boy emerged from his tent the next morning, his eyes were red. But he gave his mentor a grin and a hug, instead of turning away, and though the grin was sad, it didn't hide anything.<p>

There were still times when Zack was obviously missing Kiran, as Angeal often did. But he didn't withdraw as he had before, and he let the dragons cheer him up. They started to head out exploring again, and, sure enough, like ripples fading from the mountain streams Zack liked to tromp through, the clouds soon cleared from his eyes.

It was five days after their talk, on a clear, sunny day, high enough in altitude to have the SOLDIERs donning long, furred coats against the crisp air, when Angeal received a phone call from Sephiroth. Zack watched him expectantly, already knowing what it was about.

Angeal turned toward his student, snapping the phone shut and stowing it away. Wind ruffled the fur around his lowered hood.

"The dragons?" Zack asked, a thread of excitement strumming in his blood.

"One. A Blue Dragon, three days southeast of here, and through Condor Pass."

Zack let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Condor Pass … the mountain path through the Southern Range opening out onto the Junon Plains, and allowing one to make the journey between the Grasslands and Fort Condor while avoiding the Marshes and the Mythril Mines. It was no less dangerous, but at least you didn't have to worry about hidden zoloms beneath your feet … providing the pass was open, that is, which it was only a few months out of the year.

Zack turned to glance up at the not-so-distant mountain peaks. They were capped in snow, but then, it was high enough in altitude that they never really thawed. And, though the weather had been getting progressively colder, they hadn't yet had the first snowfall of the season. The pass _should_ be open.

He turned back to his mentor.

"When do we leave?"

* * *

><p>The crossing through Condor Pass was a harrowing journey. The monsters were stronger here, and vicious, and Angeal's thoughts kept returning to Kiran's death. He feared a repeat, or worse.<p>

So they avoided what monsters they could, but it often wasn't enough – these cold altitudes were the domain of the bandersnatches and the zuu, and while the primitive, toothed birds were aggressive, they could be easily avoided. The bandersnatches, on the other hand, were smart and relentless, and their eerie howling would call packs of them together, was even said to revive their dead. The SOLDIERs suffered more than one close call at the fangs of the wolves.

Though they neared the snowline as they progressed through the pass, they remained low enough that Angeal's fear of an attack by lessaloploths, another cold-weather creature, never materialized. The flying reptiles were large, powerful, and dangerous, but they stuck, fanatically, to icy regions higher in altitude. More than once, however, did the First catch a glimpse of a creature winging overhead, only to vanish among snowy boulders. When the wind was still, he thought he could hear their piercing cries drifting down the mountain.

Although they had the opportunity to take shelter in caves, they avoided it, save for once. Ark dragons, a lesser relative to the full-blood dragons, were known to make their homes there. Though not a great threat, they had a tendency to swarm, and it was not uncommon to hear of some unwary traveler being dragged into the depths of the caves and consumed. It occurred often enough in the Mythril Mines.

The single time they did take shelter in a cave was during the third night, after they'd gone too far into the pass to turn back. A storm was brewing far above them, had whited out the sky, as low clouds dropped in. They remained out of its reach, however, and it wasn't the storm that had Angeal sending his student and the dragons scurrying for cover. There had been lightning among the snow and fog above them, and a strong electrical charge to the air – it was Trine, a powerful Lightning magic wielded only by a bare handful of creatures on the entire planet. It was their first and only brush with the near-legendary Materia Keeper, a horrible, six-legged beast covered in spines. No one knew its full appearance, and Angeal wanted to keep it that way – he watched from their shelter, tense, as the large, dark creature appeared for an instant from the clouds, scuttled along the mountainside, and disappeared into a crevice overhead.

Angeal was thankful when they finally emerged from the pass, weary, but alive. Both worrisome, and also a saving grace, had been the dragons' tendency to shy away from the monsters they encountered. It was a complete one-eighty from Seph's usual behavior, and it had him concerned for the little dragons. What would happen in the future when they had to battle another creature? What would happen when they came face-to-face with the adult dragon they were searching for? Even Zack, who was well on his way to recovering from Kiran's death, had been unusually tense, strained, during their monster encounters.

Angeal had to somehow help them recover their lost confidence, before they encountered the full-grown dragon. But they were already through the pass, and there was no time left.

* * *

><p>The cheerful hike was interrupted when Angeal set a cautionary hand on his shoulder; when Zack saw his mentor sink into the grass, he followed suit, following the man's gaze skyward. A hush had fallen over the area, Zack had just now realized – the ever-present birds were quiet and hidden. As Seph and Ness slunk close to gather warily at their feet, Zack finally saw, through the boughs of the short pines, what his mentor already knew: winging overhead was the dragon.<p>

It passed quickly, too high to notice them; briefly coming between the sun, its shadow left a thrill of excitement and fear. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, vanishing behind the trees and a ridge. Zack blinked; the sun had burned a glittering outline of sapphire into his memory.

There was a tense stillness as he held his breath. Then his mentor shifted, and he let it out in a whoosh, glancing at the man with a wide grin.

"Was that it? That was it! We're here, Angeal, that was the dragon!" He could hardly refrain from bouncing on his toes, making a great effort to keep his voice to a loud whisper.

Angeal nodded slowly, still scanning the sky. "Yes …" His own voice was low. Now that they were here, his mind raced, considering how they needed to arrange things. Somehow, they needed to get the baby dragons to the adult, and get it to accept them. But how? If there was any existing knowledge on dragon family behavior, Angeal didn't know it. Did the dragon need to be male? Female? Already hatching a brood of its own? Did it need to be of a certain age, have failed in its own nesting attempt? There were so many possibilities, not the least of which that dragons may simply not accept the young of another, regardless of the situation.

It was a puzzle, and one Angeal had been debating at length, but no longer had the time to figure out. There was also the concern that the dragon may not accept the fledglings simply because they had been with humans for so long. And if that happened … if the dragon could not be made to accept Ness and Seph, regardless of the cause … then Angeal was at a loss. They would have played their last card, and there was nothing else they could do, short of taking the dragons home, or leaving them in the wilderness on their own. Neither of those were choices Angeal wanted to be stuck with.

Zack laid a hand on his shoulder. "It'll work, Angeal! It's _got_ to." Angeal turned his eyes on the boy, watching him practically vibrate with nervous excitement. They'd made it this far – would it be too much to ask to make it the rest of the way? Thinking back to poor Herk and dear little Kiran, Angeal feared that the cards were not laid out in their favor. It was a long shot, if anything.

But he wasn't about to give up now.

The First nodded. Examining the small, forested stand they were in, he considered their next move. He needed a better look at the dragon's location. Quietly rising, he began to pick his way carefully to the nearby ridgeline. When he felt Zack rise to follow, he turned to the boy.

"Stay there," he commanded, holding up a finger. Zack bit his lip, gaze wavering between his mentor and the ridge, obviously wanting to look over it too. Slowly, he sunk back down into the grass. "Stay," Angeal repeated. He gave Zack a hard look. The boy looked like he could spring up at any moment. "You got that, Zack?"

"What? Yeah, yeah, I got it!"

"Good." He stepped toward the ridge a few paces, then, just for good measure, turned to the boy once more. "_Stay_."

"I'm stayin', I'm stayin'!"

Satisfied that Zack would actually listen to him this time, he continued. The land rose up in a short, steep slope; Angeal carefully clambered the rest of the way to the crest. At the top, he kept himself pressed to the ground, and peered over. After a moment, he proceeded, vanishing over the ridge.

Zack watched the point where his mentor had been, nervous energy strumming through him. The dragons picked up on it, shifting restlessly beside him. He petted them absently, seeking to calm them all down. Would Angeal be okay? How long would he be gone? What if the dragon came back? What if the dragon wasn't there? Did the dragon have its own cave? Did it already have a nest? Was there more than one dragon?

Questions raced through his mind, just serving to make him more anxious. What kind of dragons were Blue Dragons? Ice, weren't they? Then wouldn't it want to live in some horribly cold place? Would Seph and Ness be all right if they went with it? They were just little dragons, after all …

Several minutes passed, and Angeal still hadn't returned. Zack wondered again if he was all right. He fidgeted. Maybe he should go looking for him? No, Angeal had told him to stay put. But what if something had happened to him? Then what he said didn't count, right? Angeal would want Zack to come looking for him. Unless he didn't … Zack thought back to the first dragon attack, so many weeks ago. Angeal hadn't wanted him to come then, had he? But what if something _had_ happened? Surely Angeal couldn't expect him to just wait here forever, could he? He really should get up to make sure his mentor was all right. Oh, but maybe he was supposed to call in to Headquarters for help? Angeal hadn't ever really said; maybe he should ask him. But he'd have to find him first, so maybe he _should_ get up after all …

Something came down on his shoulder unexpectedly, prompting Zack to jump with a startled yelp. A large hand came up over his mouth; Zack twisted around to see Angeal crouching beside him. His eyes widened.

"'Ngeal!" His voice was heavily muffled. Slowly, the First pulled his hand away when he was sure Zack wasn't going to make any more loud noises, revealing a happy grin on the boy's face. Angeal's mouth twisted wryly as he glared critically at his student.

"… I'm surprised to see you still here." He kept his voice low. "Good job. Please keep your voice down."

Oblivious to the light sarcasm, Zack's grin widened at the approval, and he nodded vigorously. "Sure thing, Angeal!" Edging closer, he asked in an excited whisper, "Did you see it? Did you see the dragon? How big is it?"

"Big enough. Larger than the Green, not quite as large as the Dark Dragon. This will be … a challenge." The First paused in thought. After a moment, he waved Zack along. "Come with me."

Together, they edged toward the rocky crest, instructing the little dragons to wait beneath the canopy of some bushes. They listened for once, peering up at the SOLDIERs with large, glittering eyes, as they scrambled up to lie against the slope. At the ridge, Angeal indicated the scene below them. Zack squirmed against small rocks digging into his side.

The slope was steep and rocky, littered with scree and the occasional, thin pine. It leveled out into a wide, shallow bowl, which had gathered enough soil for additional trees and grass to spring up. Large boulders were scattered over the area, building up to a tall, bare rock face to the right. Directly in front of them, the ground rose slightly, exposing more rock – the protruding edge of a steep cliff. Flanked by stubborn pines, beyond the cliff was an expansive view; surrounding mountain slopes tumbled away into a valley, which gave way to the Junon Plains in the far distance. A silver ribbon of water wove through the valley, and even further, beyond the haze of the horizon, lay the sea.

"… Wow …" Zack whispered in awe at the view. Angeal tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, and pointed to the side. Drawing his gaze in the indicated direction, he spied movement among the rocks near the wall. There, coming into view over the boulders, was the dragon. It settled its upper half upon a large, flat-topped boulder, fanned its wings out, and raised its head. Eyes half lidded, it turned its head toward the sun, basking in the light.

Zack's mouth dropped open at the sight of the creature. Having only encountered the other dragons in battle, he'd never had the opportunity to appreciate their beauty. This one was all sleek lines and molded sapphire, its glittering scales a blue so rich they were almost purple. The proud, angular lines of its head were framed by a crown of steely horns, which spilled in a dark, frozen waterfall of spines down the back of its graceful neck. Its underside and glinting talons matched the color; even from here, he could hear the deadly claws scraping against the granite of its perch. Sunlight through the thin membrane of the wings turned it a pale, icy color, and corded muscles rippled beneath the chest and shoulders of the creature as it moved. It was stunning.

Angeal allowed his student to appreciate the view; he knew the dragon wouldn't be leaving for a while yet, having just finished a meal of some other unfortunate creature. If they were lucky, it would work in their favor, making the dragon slow and more relaxed. Perhaps it would be more inclined to accept a pair of wayward dragon hatchlings.

Zack swallowed. "What're we … what should we do, Angeal?" he whispered, his tone reverent.

Angeal matched the volume of his voice. "There is a slope to the right, near the rock wall. It is closer to the dragon, but it should be hidden enough by the wall to keep us from view. It is rocky and steep, but not so steep as the slope here, and the scree is less; it should make less noise. The plan will be to take Seph and Ness down the slope – we'll carry them if we have to – and approach the dragon from behind. We won't get too close – we'll send the dragons on ahead. We want the Blue to see _them_, not us."

Zack nodded along with the words. "… Okay, and then what?"

"And then what? And then nothing. That's it."

"… That's the plan? That's it, there's nothing else?"

Angeal nodded. "At that point, it's up to the dragons to decide what happens next. We'll have done all we can do."

Zack gazed at his mentor, worry clouding his eyes. "But …" He glanced back to the dragon, fidgeted. Then his shoulders slumped. "… I thought there'd be more."

Angeal laid a hand on his shoulder. "There isn't. We can't make the dragons' decisions for them. If all goes well, our part should be simple. The rest is up to them."

Slowly, Zack nodded, expression glum. "I guess. … I just … I wish we could do more to make sure things go right."

Angeal offered him a sad smile. "I know. We've just got to trust them." Raising his hand, he laid it gently upon the back of Zack's neck, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "You ready to do this?"

Lifting his gaze from the ground, Zack looked up into his mentor's eyes. He saw kindness there, the man's expression strong and confident. Zack took a deep breath, let it out. Then he nodded. "Yeah. Let's do it."

"Good kid." Angeal ruffled his hair, turning to slide back down the slope. Zack followed.

They collected the dragons, and quickly, not wanting to chance the Blue moving to a more difficult position, worked their way to the slope Angeal had indicated. It ran against the vertical stone wall, little more than a deer trail, hopping over rocky steps and under bulging outcroppings. Using the rock and thin trees as handholds, they made their way down. Ness and Seph followed, scampering beside them. Occasionally, they would vault into a glide to come ahead and land, waiting, or slow and fall behind, perhaps sensing, somehow, that something was different; they watched with unsure, curious eyes, as their humans continued downward.

At the bottom of the slope, in the shadow of the wall, Angeal paused. He turned to his student and their dragons. Three pairs of bright blue, green, and violet eyes gazed back at him, with almost identical, expectant expressions. For almost two months, this had been his little ragtag group of traveling companions … minus one. He couldn't say that they'd all arrived here safely, but he'd done the best that he had known how to do, for as much as that counted. And now things were at the end. He would miss them, the little dragons, when they were gone.

"… Zack … it's time to say goodbye." The words came out heavy.

Zack's eyes widened, and his heart skipped a beat. What, so soon? Somehow, he hadn't expected it to come this quickly. He glanced down to the dragons and back to his mentor, heart sinking. His eyes pleaded for more time, saying that surely, Angeal couldn't mean _right now_, that there was still a little further to go, a little more to do?

Angeal smiled sadly, inclined his head toward the dragons.

Zack's expression fell. Gazing down at his little friends, he sniffed, taking a shuddering breath. Then he sank to his knees. He held out his arms.

"C'mere, you guys." Sensing something was up, the dragons quietly clambered into his lap. They were almost too big to hold at the same time now – it was amazing how much they'd grown. "I'm gonna miss you," he whispered, bowing his head and hugging them close. Knowing he was upset, but not why, Seph pressed tightly against him. He reached up, grabbing a lock of the boy's hair with his teeth and pulled it gently, beginning to purr. Ness also snuggled close, chirping into his shirt.

"Look, there a … there's another dragon over there. A real one, just like you, just like your mom and dad." Zack blinked, his eyes starting to sting. "An' we can't take care of you anymore, 'cause, well … we're not dragons, so it just wouldn't work out. So you gotta go with this other dragon, okay? You gotta go with 'im, and maybe, maybe things'll work out, and maybe … we'll see each other again." His throat was tight. "How's that sound?"

Seph whined and purred louder, the noise taking on an almost desperate feeling. Why was his boy so sad? Why couldn't he make him feel any better?

Zack sniffed and chuckled weakly. Despite his best efforts, his vision was clouding up. He squeezed the dragons tightly. "It's okay, Seph. I'm fine." His words thickened. "You take care of Ness, alright? And Ness, keep Seph outta trouble." Ness warbled at him.

A shadow fell over them. Angeal had appeared, kneeling before them. He rested a large hand on Zack's head.

"You all right?"

Zack nodded. "Y-yeah." Giving the dragons one last squeeze, Zack pressed his cheek to Seph's neck, whispering, "I love you guys," then he pushed them into Angeal's arms. "Here. They wanna say goodbye to you too." Abruptly standing, Zack strode a few paces away, going to lean against the wall.

Arms suddenly full of dragon, the First couldn't follow his student as he would have liked, but he felt the boy needed a moment to himself anyway. With a sad sigh, he turned his attention to the dragons.

"Ness. Seph. … Thank you for being there for my student," he said, quietly. "I hope you forgive us … forgive me … for Kiran. For your real parents. I hope you're able to forget us. And yet … I hope you remember, too." Giving them a strong hug of his own, and listening to them whistle in his ear one last time, he stood.

"… Zack?"

Zack wiped his eyes and nodded, pushing away from the wall. "I'm alright." He turned to face his mentor. "I'm ready."

Angeal held his gaze, finding it steady, committed. He nodded. "Let's go."

Together, hatchlings in tow, they rounded the wall, stepping into the late day sun. Before them, silhouetted upon a rock not a hundred feet away, was the dragon. Zack's breath caught at the size of it. Its head alone looked to be almost as long as he was tall.

It faced away from them, thankfully, still enjoying the sun. There were a handful of trees between here and there, and numerous boulders, so there was plenty of cover. They advanced cautiously, venturing a short distance out from the wall. Then the SOLDIERs slowed to allow the hatchlings to continue without them. It worked, until Seph and Ness finally caught sight of the dragon.

They froze. Having pulled ahead several yards, they sunk down slightly, ears flattening, then turned and pattered back to press close to the SOLDIERs' feet.

"Aww, c'mon, you guys," Zack whispered. "It's just another dragon!" The Third ushered them forward, quietly, urging them to continue. "Let's go!" He went with them several paces, then slowed, stopping. They continued a few feet, but stopped themselves when they realized he wasn't coming. Glancing up to the giant silhouette and back, they shared an unsure look with each other. Seph sat down, curling his tail close. His eyes flicked between his sister and Zack.

The Third tried to shoo them onward. "Go. Go!" he hissed. "Look, you're just making this harder than it has to be! I can't _go_ with you!" None of this would work if the adult dragon set eyes upon the two humans. "You gotta go away! Go home!"

Seph swallowed, again looking at Ness. Then he settled down into the grass. Ness followed suit.

"Oh, for the love of …" Flustered, Zack cast about for a way to make them go. It was hard enough saying goodbye; was he supposed to kick them away, too? Digging into his pocket, his hand closed upon a half-eaten candy bar. Yanking it out, he pulled back, then flung it as hard as he could away from their position. Having immediately jumped to their feet upon seeing the chocolate, the dragons sprung for it. But after a few strides and glancing back up at the other dragon, they stopped once again.

At a loss, Zack fisted his hands in his hair. "Gaia! Don't you _get_ it?" His voice was agonized. "What part of _'go away'_ don't you _understand_! You can't _be_ with us anymore!"

In response, Seph let out a low whine. Ness began trotting back. Zack made a small noise of despair at this, heartbroken eyes searching out Angeal for guidance.

The other SOLDIER frowned. He hadn't counted on it being so difficult to prompt the dragons to continue. At seeing the adult dragon, he'd hoped that they would be interested enough to get a closer look, but it was as if they didn't care at all. In retrospect, he supposed he should have predicted this – the two hatchlings had been so wary of other creatures lately; the other dragon must be no different. He wondered if they even realized it was their own kind.

They'd have to try something else. Stepping forward, taking a cautious glance at the dragon, he …

The dragon …

It was gone.

Angeal swore. While he was preoccupied with Zack and the hatchlings, it must have … "Zack! Get down," he commanded, keeping his voice low.

As Zack instantly sank to the ground, calling the dragons to him, Angeal drew his sword and scanned the skies for the creature. Zack shot him a worried glance, drawing his own weapon. Were things going to go wrong already?

Angeal tensed, failing to spot the dragon. Perhaps they would be lucky, and it had simply moved on. Silently, he gestured for Zack to head back to the slope. They'd regroup and seek the dragon later – better than hunting through the maze of boulders and risking discovery.

However, before they could get far, there was a loud _crack_ above them, and a tremendous gust of wind nearly ripped them off their feet. Leaves, sharp twigs, and dust blew past them, stinging eyes and exposed skin. Zack let out a wordless cry.

Before Angeal could raise an arm to shelter his face, the sun vanished, and the dragon dropped between them like a falling mountain – huge, solid, immovable. Then it shifted.

In the flicker of an eye, it had coiled and sprung for the First, enormous jaws gaping wide and claws outstretched. Mako suddenly surging and lighting his blood afire, Angeal twisted, rolling away. A lesser man would have been dead; Angeal came away lucky with a gash to the back of his calf.

As snapping jaws sought him, Angeal looked up to see his student backpedaling with a look of terror on his face. As their eyes met, in that moment, he realized his mistake: Zack had suffered a tremendous blow to his confidence in Kiran's death, and in sheltering him from monster battles in the hope he would recover, Angeal had done him a grave disservice. As the hatchlings had become skittish, so, too, had Zack. He was afraid of the monster, when he'd never shown fear before. Afraid of the monster, afraid for Angeal and the dragons, and afraid of failing.

_ Too afraid to fight?_

Before Angeal could find his answer, the dragon was in his face, meeting his broadsword. Angeal let him have it.

Zack danced away from the stomping claws of the monster's rear feet. His eyes fixed on the talons – they were huge, as long as his thigh, digging into the dirt and sending it flying as the creature rapidly moved. Muscles in the leg bunched and rippled; they were massive, the leg easily taller than even Sephiroth. The enormous bulk of the tail swung wildly as counterbalance, ignoring ground and trees. It was the largest creature he'd ever seen, larger than the dragons they'd faced before, larger than he'd even imagined. And Angeal was on the dangerous side of it.

_ Angeal!_ He had to help the man, but he was rooted to the spot. Inside his gloves, his palms were sweaty; his mouth was dry and his stomach curdling. He didn't understand it. He'd been worried before, startled, taken by surprise … but never this! He saw death in those steely claws, stomping the ground. If he got too close …

_No! I gotta … Angeal needs me …_ Heart racing, he gripped his sword tight and forced himself forward, yell sticking in his throat. His legs moved, but they seemed clumsy and disconnected. Spying him from the corner of its eye, the dragon snarled and lashed its tail like a whip. Zack saw it coming, ducked, kept going. Stubborn and desperate, he kept his target in sight – the dragon's exposed ribcage. He lifted his weapon.

Suddenly, the target was gone. Drawing back, the dragon had turned away from Angeal and toward him. A pillar of clawed forelimb slammed down in his path. Flailing, he skidded to a stop with a yelp, immediately backtracked. Then the dragon's maw filled his vision. Images of teeth and pain flashed through his mind; the dragon took a deep breath … and simply _breathed_ on him.

Icy coolness washed over him, a mist, glittering gently in the sun. It was no different from stepping into ShinRa's giant freezers. Harmless, right? He took a breath.

As the mist entered his lungs, it prickled, stung his throat. He coughed, gasped. It went deeper, sudden, icy knives driving into his chest, reaching for his heart. He choked, eyes tearing up. The liquid turned to frost at the corners of his eyes, crackling; he bowed his head, gritting his teeth, and brought a trembling hand up to clutch at the sweater over his heart. What … what _was_ this? His insides were freezing!

He managed to stumble a handful of steps away from the dragon before he found himself on his knees, suddenly weaponless hand bracing himself as he pitched forward. Distantly, he heard the dull _clang_ as the sword hit the dirt. He couldn't … breathe. It was cold … so cold.

"Zack!" Angeal saw his student collapse onto his side, shuddering. _Blue Dragon Breath …_ Recognizing the danger of the misty tendrils drifting toward him, he leapt away, hand covering his nose and mouth. It wouldn't do Zack any good for him to rush in. But … He narrowed his eyes. That was an extraordinarily weak form of the attack – the creature must not consider the boy much of a threat, was saving its energy for _him_. As Angeal watched, the dragon dismissed his student and turned back in his direction.

Igniting his Fire materia, the First threw a powerful blast toward the dragon. It scored the creature's chest, raised its ire, and lit the grass at its feet. Hopefully it would drive away the lingering mist. Another fireball to the creature's face – which it easily slithered around – and Angeal took off between the boulders, the dragon darting rapidly after him. He had to draw it away from Zack; hopefully the boy would be all right!

The hatchlings, having scattered in fear, scurried back toward the fallen Third as soon as the dragon left to pursue Angeal. Seph nosed his way into Zack's face, worried, while Ness fearfully stood by, chirping nervously.

Zack was gasping, trying to get his breathing under control. It was like he'd fallen in a frigid lake, but worse – it was on the inside. He shuddered, took another ragged breath … and coughed. Gaia, it hurt!

But … at least it wasn't getting worse. He could … he could handle this. Weakly patting at Seph to reassure him, he shakily levered himself up. With a force of will, he swallowed against the horrible chill, pushed through it. A warm gust from the nearby brush fire, courtesy of Angeal, swept over him. Thankful for that small bit of warmth, he stood, staggering toward it. Already the mist in the air had vanished. He took a deep breath, coughed wetly, and bent to retrieve his weapon. _Yeah, you'll be okay, Zack. You can do this! You _have_ to!_ Though cold, it felt that his lungs were thawing, slowly, by degrees. Now to help out Angeal!

Ignoring the glacier in his chest, he ran toward the boulders. Suddenly, he heard a buzzing, high-pitched whine, followed by a booming _ka-rack_. Rocky debris were flung past him, and he quickly ducked behind the nearest boulder to avoid getting struck. Cautiously, he peered around it.

Over the tops of the uneven rocks, he spied the dragon's head, snapping at Angeal, currently in midair. The dragon missed; Angeal landed, sprung again, driving toward the dragon's neck, sword ready for spearing. Effortlessly, the dragon evaded, batting the SOLDIER away. Angeal went with it, backflipping to land upon a large boulder. At the same instant, the dragon opened its maw, firing a narrow beam of frigid blue energy. Angeal was gone again. The beam struck the boulder; it iced up, then with a screech and a boom, exploded. Large stone shards flew in all directions.

"Angeal!" The ragged cry tore at his throat, he coughed, painfully. Gritting his teeth, he sprinted toward the battle, clambering up a large rock. This was all going so _wrong_ … his mentor was in trouble, Seph and Ness would never have a chance at going home … wasn't there anything that could be _done_? The dragon would _never_ be interested in the two hatchlings now!

As Zack scrambled over the tops of the boulders, leaping from one to the next and trying not to breathe too deeply, a large fireball forced the roaring Blue back, and Angeal sprung into view again. Furious, the dragon again unleashed its breath weapon upon the surrounding boulders; again, they froze, fractured, and broke apart, forcing Angeal to keep moving. But this time, he wasn't so lucky.

The First successfully evaded the shrapnel from one of the rocks, but another exploded just as he landed – there was no time for him to move. He had his weapon out, blocking the debris, but missed a chunk to his forehead. It struck, throwing him into the boulder behind him. An instant later, that one detonated.

Zack watched in horror. "_Angeal!_" Losing sight of his mentor, all fear of the dragon vanished. He thought only of Angeal, and of the suddenly growing fury at the dragon they'd had no desire to battle in the first place. With an enraged yell, he charged up his Fire and blasted it straight toward the creature. It slammed squarely into the beast's shoulder. The dragon roared.

Zack shouted right back at it. "_What is wrong with you?_" he cried. "Do you stupid monsters have to kill _everything_?" His voice came out broken, fractured by injured lungs. "All we wanted was to give two little dragons a home! _Can't you understand that?_"

In rage, the dragon turned its attention upon him. Clawed feet kicked up dirt as it barreled forward, springing over the rocks. Gigantic wings whipped the air, propelling it with ease. Zack blindly retaliated with more Fire.

"If you were _half_ the dragon that Seph and Ness and Kiran were, you'd understand! I hate you! Angeal was right, _you all deserve to be killed_!"

Too late, Zack realized just how swiftly the dragon had closed upon him. Heart leaping into his throat, he spun and leapt from the boulder. Boots striking the ground, he was already pounding away; he could feel the rage of the beast behind him. A hastily erected Barrier shattered at the dragon's claw as if it had never existed. Adrenaline surging, Zack redoubled his efforts to get away. But, in dismay, he saw that Seph and Ness had followed him, and now they were all within the creature's path.

Stooping low, he scooped up Ness, took another two steps and reached for Seph. But the ground, rocky, unstable, shifted beneath his boot as it came down. It threw his leg out from under him. He had Seph! But he fell, hard, and tumbled. Trying to get up, a liquid current of pain shot up his ankle, prompting an agonized cry. He fell back, forward motion abruptly arrested. Adrenaline racing, he risked a glance behind him.

It was too late. The dragon was upon him.

With a note of despair, Zack hugged the little dragons close, hunching over them in a vain attempt at protection, presenting his back to the dragon. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing he'd feel the monster's claws raking through him any moment. He could feel its icy breath on his neck.

He was horrified to feel Seph squirming out of his grasp, over his shoulder.

"Seph, no!" Frantic, he tried to pull the little dragon back, but both he and Ness had grown, and were more than an armful for him. Seph wriggled higher, freeing his wings. Zack clutched tightly at his hindquarters, hearing the Blue rumble threateningly above them.

Irate, the little black dragon hissed back. Then he took a deep breath, opened his little maw, and spat out an intense, white fireball. It struck the adult directly on the nose.

Startled, the Blue reared back, blinking down at its little attacker. That had hurt. Still seething, Seph pulled himself higher, snarling in fury. He had had enough! Freeing himself entirely from Zack's grasp, Seph launched himself off the boy's shoulder and into the Blue's face, wings pumping furiously. Hovering successfully in midair for the first time, Seph chattered angrily at the Blue. Encouraged, Ness also wriggled out of Zack's hold and yapped a loud counterpoint to her brother's scolding.

Fearing for the dragons, Zack twisted around. He gasped; the Blue loomed high above them. Wings outstretched, it blocked out the sky. Zack had never felt so small, so powerless, in his entire life. The creature's very presence seemed to weigh down upon him like a living mountain. They didn't stand a chance.

Reaching for Ness, who was still on the ground, Zack scooped her back up, only to contend with her struggling.

"Ness! Stop it!" Looking up at Seph, he waved a frantic arm in a futile attempt at shooing the little dragon away. "Get outta there, Seph! _Go!_" His voice was panicked.

Seph ignored him. This dragon was getting a piece of his mind.

Attention taken up fully by the small hatchling in its face, the Blue's wings slowly dropped, anger turning to irritation. This was … a little dragon. What were _humans_ doing with little dragons? Baring its teeth, the Blue growled menacingly at the small hatchling. Having none of it, Seph dared to attempt a landing to sink claws into its muzzle, but the dragon shook him off. Further attempts to move around the hatchling were met with additional flapping wings and miniature snarls. At the little Black's persistence, confusion slowly took over. Finally, glancing downward, past fluttering black wings, its gaze settled on the small human boy, taking in the way he protectively hugged the other hatchling. It listened to the way the young, incensed Black loudly defended his friend.

Growing annoyed at the chatter, the Blue swung its head down to get level with the boy – this merited investigation. The black hatchling followed it down; impatient, the dragon batted him to the side with its muzzle, returned its attention to the boy. Icy blue eyes met turbulent purple ones.

Zack's breath caught in his throat. Was the dragon going to kill them now? The creature held his gaze, and he found himself unable to look away. The pale blue depths of its eyes were incredible, they were lit, deep inside, by a white fire. Sunlight fell upon the sapphire cloak of the dragon's scales, dazzling his eyes. It seemed to be evaluating him, judging him.

The SOLDIER hesitated. Then, taking a chance, he, ever so slowly, pushed a now petrified Ness toward the dragon. Not expecting this, the hatchling squawked in surprise. The dragon blinked.

Moment broken, it turned its gaze to the little Green. Ness shrunk back for an instant, then, drawing courage from her brother's actions, straightened and bared her teeth. The Blue rumbled in response … in amusement?

Stepping away from Zack, now more interested in the hatchlings, the dragon searched out Seph, reaching down to nudge him from the spot he'd been sitting, dazed. The touch snapped him back to alertness, and he barked at the dragon. In reply, the Blue made a soft, comforting sound and nuzzled the hatchling. Thrown for a loop, Seph instantly quieted.

Confused, but drawn toward the sound, Ness whistled anxiously, taking a hesitant step forward. The Blue whistled back in encouragement, a low, entrancing sound, which prompted Ness to continue pattering onward. Seph joined in the whistling.

Feeling a little lost, Zack watched for several minutes as the dragons communicated with each other. Was this … it? Was this what they wanted, what was supposed to happen? Was the adult going to accept the two hatchlings? It looked like it, but with the little dragons suddenly ignoring him, he felt rather … left out.

What was to happen to him now?

And what about Angeal?

_Angeal!_ Was he okay? Eyes wide, Zack glanced back toward the mess of boulders, suddenly fearful that his mentor was lying somewhere in there, broken, injured, worse …

So he received a jolt when his gaze landed on a pair of worried, deep blue eyes gazing back at him from a position across the other side of the dragon. Angeal stood, sword lowered but not sheathed, looking rather worse for wear, but certainly not dead. Cut and bruised, with a half-healed gash across the side of his head, he watched the scene unfolding before them. Zack wondered how long he'd been standing there.

"Angeal!" He couldn't help the worried exclamation that slipped out, and froze as it drew unwanted attention from the dragon. The beast glanced up from the chattering hatchlings, fixed its gaze in his direction. Angeal took an automatic step forward, stopped. He watched the dragon warily, concerned for his student, but not wanting to set the creature off.

The dragon lifted its head to observe the humans on either side of it. Neither one moved to attack. Its eyes narrowed. Nostrils flared as it tested the air. Both humans were injured; one scared but determined, the other filled with caution, but focused more upon his younger companion than the dragon before him. Interested, the dragon's gaze flicked between the two, noting the tenseness of the one, clearly wanting to go to his fallen companion. The dragon considered them, and it considered the two hatchlings that had come with them.

Swinging its head down toward the older SOLDIER, the Blue rumbled a warning as the man presented his weapon. It was familiar with swords, had faced and defeated them before. But when the man refrained from making any additional movements, the dragon took a moment to examine his scent further, identifying the individual scents of the hatchlings on him. Their eyes met, blue on blue, challenging, judging. Angeal raised his chin. Something seemed to pass between them. Then the dragon moved toward Zack.

Zack held his breath as the dragon stepped closer, once again finding himself meeting his reflection in pale blue eyes. The dragon huffed, clearing its nose, and, seeing the boy defenseless, pushed its muzzle into the fabric of Zack's shirt, breathing deep. Zack jerked, raised his hands, unsure what to do. Again, the dragon smelt the two hatchlings, and a missing third, heard the rapid thumping of the boy's heart.

The scent of the hatchlings was strong; they had spent much time in the company of these humans. And yet, the boy had deliberately pushed the hatchlings toward the dragon. The dragon considered further.

After several moments of examining the boy, the dragon finally took note of the way his gaze kept shooting uncertainly to the man on the other side of the dragon. Ah. With another rumble, the Blue again pressed his nose into the boy's stomach, giving him a nudge. At a startled noise from the boy, the rumble turned into a deep, comforting croon.

There was a second of hesitation, and then Zack, emboldened, slowly set his palm upon the creature's muzzle. After the softness of the hatchlings' scales, he was mildly surprised to find the dragon's hard and smooth. Cautiously, still afraid the dragon might attack, he let his hand trail up the muzzle. He felt the way the scales fit so closely together, like river stones overlapping and having merged into a single, supple layer. His gaze dropped from the dragon's eyes to observe the sunlight gleaming on the hard covering, noticed the faint blue reflection on his skin. He let out the breath he'd been holding in wonder.

The dragon nudged him again. Zack, recognizing the creature's actions from Seph's insistent demands for "more," gently, and a little uncertainly, wrapped his arms around the creature's muzzle. _Don't eat me, please don't eat me …_ At the touch, the dragon unexpectedly wedged its nose further beneath Zack's stomach, and lifted. The Third yelped in surprise, arms automatically tightening. He found himself picked off his feet, ankle giving a pained throb, and suddenly he was swung smoothly through the air to his mentor.

The humans had returned two dragon hatchlings to their own kind. It seemed the dragon was returning the favor.

Angeal was there to catch him when the dragon set him back upon his feet; Zack had never been so relieved to feel those strong arms steadying him. The First's eyes met the dragon's again, and again, something seemed to pass between them. _You watch over your hatchling,_ it seemed to say, _I'll watch over mine_.

"Angeal! You okay?" Even as Zack asked, he kept his eyes glued to the dragon, as it stepped away. His voice cracked, still hampered by the lingering cold in his lungs.

"Of course," came the murmured reply. He quickly checked over his student, keeping one eye on the dragon. As they watched the creature return its attention to the hatchlings, Angeal took a moment to activate his Restore. He rubbed a hand soothingly along his student's back, focusing the energy into his chest and lungs. He'd examine the boy's ankle shortly to make sure it wasn't broken. Zack took a deep breath, sighing in relief.

Once the dragon had carried out its own examinations of the chattering hatchlings, the two little dragons, now perfectly comfortable around the giant beast, grew impatient and bounded back toward the SOLDIERs. They chirped animatedly; Zack grinned – he hadn't seen them so energetic since … since Kiran.

Making sure Zack was stable enough to stand on his own, Angeal kneeled to catch the two dragons. He gazed up at the Blue. Somehow, it had come to accept the hatchlings, and to overlook whatever threat the SOLDIERs had originally presented. When had that happened? Had it recognized Zack's efforts in trying to shield two of its own kind with his own body? Had little Seph's bold actions in trying to fight it off and protect Zack stopped it? Whatever the cause, the dragon no longer seemed interested in harming them. Still, the First was cautious.

He approached the beast, slowly, and set the hatchlings down again, giving them a small push.

"They belong with you now, I think."

Ness and Seph warbled, glancing between the SOLDIER and the dragon. The dragon trilled, calling the hatchlings to it. It took a few steps toward the cliff, paused. Seph's ears perked up, watching intently. He took a step closer, seeming to understand. But then he stopped, ears flicking back uncertainly. He twisted around to look at Angeal, and then past him to Zack.

With a determined bark, Seph trotted past Angeal and up to Zack. When Zack bent down for him, the little dragon grabbed his hand with his mouth and pulled. Caught by surprise, Zack stumbled.

"Ah! Seph!" He laughed. "Ow, ow. Hey! I can't, I twisted my ankle." Grinning, he limped a few steps with the dragon before resisting. "Se-eph! Stop it, would ya? Silly dragon." Looking into those bright green eyes, his smile froze, then slowly faded. Glancing up at the Blue and back, he realized what Seph was doing.

The little dragon tugged on him again.

"… Seph …" Slowly, Zack kneeled. "I … I _can't_." Seph blinked at him, then again tugged. When Zack still refused to move, the dragon let out a low, plaintive whine.

"… Seph, I … This …" Zack floundered, words failing him. He looked around the clearing, took in the setting sun, Ness, the waiting Blue, Angeal, watching quietly. He let the reality of the situation slowly sink in. This was _it_. It really was, this time; despite the scuffle, the dragons were leaving. It was time to let go. A weight settled into the pit of his stomach. He swallowed with difficulty.

"This is it, Seph," Zack continued, quietly. "It's time to go home. We got you this far, but … you gotta go the rest of the way by yourselves."

The little dragon stared at him, listening to the sadness in his voice. His jaw went slack, then, slowly, he dropped Zack's hand. He whined again, a lonely, mournful sound.

Zack felt his throat tighten. He sniffed. "Yeah, I know, but you gotta do your best." He gave the dragon a quavering smile, looked from him to Ness. "I'll miss you guys, you know. I had a … a great time. Take … take care, alright?" He found he couldn't maintain the smile.

Angeal wasn't sure who moved first, but suddenly, Seph was in Zack's arms, and the boy was squeezing him tightly, biting back a sob. The dragon had draped his obsidian wings around Zack's shoulders; absently, the First noted how large the Black had gotten – the wings were large enough to fold around Zack like a shawl. Ness was there too, a bare moment later, climbing into Zack's lap and draping her wings around the boy's waist.

"I'll miss you so much," Zack whispered. "Don't forget me, okay?" He gasped, a sob escaping his lips, and shut his eyes tightly, hot tears escaping. His shoulders shook as several more sobs wracked his frame before he could get them under control. "Heh … look at me." The sobs turned to broken laughter. "I'm s-such a … a sap. I should be happy we f-finally made it here." He buried his face into the dragon's soft scales. "I _am_ happy. I am. … I am." Squeezing Seph tightly one last time, he pulled back to look into the dragon's eyes. They shone, emerald and bright. "Goodbye, Seph." The dragon reached up, nuzzling his cheek. Then he let the Black go, and hugged Ness. The little Green whistled at him. "Goodbye, Ness." Her eyes were clear, miniature pools of sky. He let her go, too.

Angeal came to stand beside him. The adult Blue whistled again at the hatchlings, calling them. This time, they responded, whistling a reply with their own unique voices. Glancing once more at the SOLDIERs, they trotted away to join the dragon.

Zack stood. Angeal rested a hand on his shoulder. The boy, wiped his eyes. "'M fine." He sniffed, made a noise that was a combination of a sob and a laugh. "Just … just my allergies."

Angeal squeezed his shoulder.

As the dragons ambled through the long grass to the stone ledge at the edge of the cliff, the two SOLDIERs followed slowly behind. The Blue checked to ensure the hatchlings had followed, let its eyes slide over the SOLDIERs, then raised its wings, sapphire catching the light of the sun.

It thrust itself off the cliff then, swooping down and then up, huge, powerful wings beating the air and sending it skyward. It gained altitude and banked, majestically. Wind stirred the SOLDIERs' hair as they watched, the low sun angling into their eyes.

Seph and Ness turned to the SOLDIERs for one last, long look. Their shadows stretched long over the ground, almost close enough for Zack to touch. He'd seen them like this countless times before. Remembering, he thought back to their hatching, their misadventures, their roughhousing, their curious exploration and mischievous games. He remembered quiet nights by the fire, nestling down with the dragons and falling asleep to Angeal's voice as the First related one of his stories. He remembered long days, trekking over country he'd never seen before, with the dragons bounding ahead. He remembered peaceful moments stolen in between the hustle and bustle of raising three wild, amazing creatures. He remembered Kiran.

_Goodbye._

Ness was the first to go. Always the one to gaze into the sky, she was the first to take that final step into the wide blue that captivated her so. Drawing from what she'd seen of flying from Kiran and Seph, she crouched deeply and lunged upward. Almost like she'd always known how, her wings snapped down at the top of her leap, propelling her upward, again, and again. She rose, drawing away from the ground, away from familiar terrain.

Then it was Seph's turn. Breaking eye contact with his beloved Zack, and turning away from the mismatched group that he had called family, he launched himself into the air. Wings beating rapidly, he followed after his sister.

Their new guardian swooped around, bugled an encouragement, and led them away. Eyes glued to the retreating dragons, Zack leaned on Angeal and hobbled as quickly as he could to the cliff's edge. Once there, he raised an arm and waved enthusiastically.

"Seph! Ness! Goodbye! Don't forget us!" His vision blurred once more; quickly he wiped it away. "You better fly circles around that ol' dragon, you hear!"

In response, the little dragons peeled away from the blue, returning to the cliff side. Beating wings for speed, they stooped, and dove toward the SOLDIERs. At the last moment, they leveled out, zooming by, one after the other, and veered heavily, circling around them. Zack let out a _whoop_, waving his arms and laughing through his tears. The little dragons answered him with joyful bugles. Then, turning on wingtip, they headed back out toward the waiting Blue.

This time, they continued away, wings catching the light of the sun: sapphire, emerald, and obsidian. The SOLDIERs watched as they soared over the valley, the river below turned to a golden ribbon. Slowly, Zack sat down, letting his legs dangle over the abyss. His eyes were bright, and he felt … light, somehow. The weight was gone. He would miss the dragons, but he was happy for them. They had a home now, a real family. It had been a long shot, coming out here, maybe even a fool's errand. But they had done it. They'd really done it. The wind dried the remaining moisture on his cheeks.

The sun began to slide behind a line of clouds, as they watched. It set the sky ablaze, edged the clouds with liquid gold. Rays of Heaven's light peaked through and shone downward, warm and comforting. In the distance, the dragons banked, and disappeared over the crest of the mountains.

They were gone.

They watched the horizon a while longer, until the sun slipped below it, and left the sky painted with lingering swaths of yellow and pink. Purple night waited on the fringes.

"… Do you think they'll be okay, Angeal?" Zack's voice was hushed, as the stillness of the evening began to creep upon them.

"I'm sure they will be."

"… Do you think we'll see them again?"

This, Angeal didn't answer. Instead, he simply settled an arm around his student's shoulders, pulling him close. Zack let his head rest against his mentor's arm. As if in reply, or perhaps simply a final farewell, Zack heard a distant roar. And, floating very faintly on the wind behind it, he fancied there were two other calls, young and vibrant.

There was a moment of silence. Then Angeal turned to rest his chin upon Zack's soft, black spikes. They had been through a lot. It was hard to believe that it was over.

"You've done me proud, Zack," he said, quietly.

Zack took a deep breath, remained immobile for a few minutes. Then he twisted to wrap his arms around his mentor.

"I'll miss them, Angeal."

"Me too."

It was yet several moments longer before they both climbed to their feet. Angeal stopped only to examine Zack's ankle and apply a Restore. It was time to head home.

As they stepped away from the cliff edge, Angeal thought back to the events of their extended adventure, the close calls they'd had, and the encounter with the dragon … with all the dragons. Zack had grown a lot, he thought, had learned a great deal. And, for his part, Angeal had learned much from his student. He was not a perfect mentor, not infallible, he made mistakes. But, despite that, despite his worries, he thought they'd done all right together.

"You know, Angeal …" Zack said, as they ambled away, "I think we make a pretty good team." His voice was still quiet, but it was sincere.

Angeal felt his lips quirk upward at this.

"You know, Zack … I think you might be right."

Yes, they did make a good team. Maybe Sephiroth _would_ have done a better job. But Zack was _his_ student, and he was Zack's mentor. He was sure things would go wrong again, they would argue, Angeal would question his methods, and Zack would drive him to worry.

But Angeal wouldn't change it for the world. They were a team, now, and always, even if they were just a little … just a little _rough_ around the edges.

* * *

><p><strong>End<strong>


End file.
